{"id":1614,"date":"2019-11-10T18:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-11-10T18:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=1614"},"modified":"2019-11-10T19:52:02","modified_gmt":"2019-11-10T19:52:02","slug":"bernie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/?p=1614","title":{"rendered":"Bernie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Almost 50 years ago when Claire and I decided to get married, we made a trip to Cleveland so I could meet the family. We weren\u2019t aware of it at the time, but the family had planned a surprise party for us \u2014 the party was at Bernie and Ed\u2019s house. So Bernie was one of the first Stracensky\u2019s to welcome me to the family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the years, Bernie and Ed visited us in Virginia more than any of the other family members. They\u2019d come down for just the weekend sometimes and occasionally they stayed longer. I always went through a similar routine with Bernie after they had arrived\u2026. I\u2019d always ask if they had a good trip, and Bernie always said, \u201cOh, it was very nice.\u201d Then I\u2019d say something like \u201cdid you hit any rain?\u201d And Bernie would respond, \u201cI\u2019m really not sure.\u201d This would go on for a little while and I\u2019d always ask if the construction on the Pennsylvania Turnpike was as bad as ever. Again, Bernie\u2019s response was pretty much always, \u201cI\u2019m not really sure.\u201d It turns out that Bernie slept all the way to Virginia. Ed did the driving, and Bernie took a nap! So she never developed the hatred for the Pennsylvania Turnpike most of us did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They always brought us some good Cleveland bread, because Virginia just didn\u2019t have good bread. And Bernie always brought one or two or three of her world famous nut rolls. Bernie was known for many things, but she might have been most famous for her nut rolls. Ed once told me that he\u2019d heard that Bernie made just about the best nut rolls of anyone. I looked a little puzzled when he told me that, and he explained that he was only allowed to eat the ends of her nut rolls \u2014 the good part was always saved for other people. I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s really true or not, but that was Ed\u2019s story, and he stuck to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernie was the teacher in the family. Every time I was around her and said or did something kind of stupid, which happened fairly often, Bernie would always say, \u201cJimmy, when my children (meaning her students) say or do something like that I always tell them\u2026.\u201d and it would usually be something like it was inconsiderate or might be offensive to some people, or something like that. Always made me think I should hang my head and say, \u201cyes, Mrs. Hudak.\u201d She never seemed to get too far from her teaching mode\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life is basically what happens from a time called birth to a time called death. That\u2019s all we get \u2014 life itself. There aren\u2019t even any instructions \u2014 it\u2019s left up to us to do the living. Like everything else, some of us do a better job than others. I was thinking a few days ago, that Bernie did a pretty good job.
She pursued a noble profession \u2014 teaching, and influenced a lot of people over the years. She met, and loved her soul mate for many, many years, raised three pretty great kids in Rusty, Mark and Peggy and had untold friends. She also got to spend a good number of years enjoying her grandchildren. Overall, I\u2019d say she had a good, long life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The last time we visited with Bernie, near the end, she seemed sad. See, that\u2019s the thing \u2014 the truth is, there are no happy endings. Endings are the saddest part. So that leaves us with a happy middle and a very happy start. I think Bernie achieved that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re all going to be a little sadder around here, but there\u2019s gonna be a big party in Heaven. Bernie and Eddie together again \u2014 just like old times. I\u2019d even be willing to bet that Bernie will let Ed have some of the \u201cgood part\u201d of her nut rolls this time\u2026.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Almost 50 years ago when Claire and I decided to get married, we made a trip to Cleveland so I could meet the family. We weren\u2019t aware of it at the time, but the family had planned a surprise party … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1614"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1622,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1614\/revisions\/1622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/jimmy.ekota.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}