2020 has been a year none of us will ever forget. Is that not the understatement of the year!? We had a global pandemic, government shutdowns, trillions in stimulus, panic, fear, riots, election chaos, and it's still not over. None of this even scratches the surface of how I'll remember 2020. For me, it's the permanent end of my childhood and the time for me to prove out the legacy left to me. What does that even mean... "the end of my childhood"? In 2020, both of my grandparents on my father's side passed away. On the surface, this may seem extraordinary that I still have grandparents living... and it is. It's so much deeper. Ken Sr and Gabriella Carfagno were my Nana & Pop-Pop for 43 years. In reality, they are the true mother and father in my life. I spent every weekend with them growing up. They are the ones I sought approval and affirmation, especially my Pop. Their loss ends my extended childhood, where I still had a father to go to for counsel. Pop was the patriarch of the Carfagno Family and now he's gone. I'm now left to stand on my own and become the new patriarch, but I don't stand from the ground. I stand upon his shoulders. This episode is a short departure from cleaning as I want you all to pause and reflect on what you have already. What are you grateful for? Your family? Your health? Your business, where ever it is?
Here's the text of the eulogy I gave at my Pop-Pop's funeral:
I would like to thank my dad, Ken Jr, my uncles Bob and David, and my brother Dominic for allowing me the honor to remember our father and Pop-Pop today. Ken Carfagno, Sr was always larger than life to us. We have always felt that Pop was the greatest man that ever walked this earth except for Jesus himself. I am so grateful that I got to spend every weekend with Nana and Pop-Pop growing up. They made me who I am.
Ken was the youngest of five children from Jerry and Concetta Carfagno. Nana Concetta ran out of Italian names, so she named her 5th after the 1930's singer & actor Kenny Baker who she thought was very handsome. Who knew that name would carry on 4+ generations? Ken married his high school sweetheart, Gabriella Corbett on October 20th, 1956 after going steady for over 4 years. They raised 3 boys and half the neighborhood on both Anchor Street and Harvard Road! Nana and Pop were inseparable for over 63 years of marriage. None of us could ever say one's name without mentioning the other. They were Mom and Dad, Nana and Pop. That's how interconnected their souls were. When Nana passed away this February, a huge piece of Pop died with her. Although we're grieving, we know they're together again.
Pop was only 40 when I was born. He was young, full of energy, joy, and life. Nana and Pop raised me as their 4th son (even though I was a grandson). Pop taught me humility, gratitude, how to be a man, how to live a righteous life, how to keep God at the center of your life and make church-going & prayer a discipline. He taught me how to be faithful to one woman your whole life, how to love, how to honor, how to live, how to share wisdom with those you love, how to provide for your family, and how to invest in your future. He was the only man to truly recognize my potential and creativity and he fanned that flame throughout my life. When I met Teresa in 1998, he did the same for her and over time built a very special relationship. Nana and Pop never treated her as an "in-law". She was truly their daughter.
Read the rest of this article at the Solo Cleaning School website