On the Twenty-Seventh Day of Christ*&^%$

On the Twenty-Seventh Day of Christ*&^%$, TiZ reveals to you...

Twenty-seven things you might not know about the Poppy...

He was born in Brooklyn.

He helped shovel coal as a kid for a job before school. Fell asleep in someone's coal bin.

He got left behind in Kindergarten.

His Dad died when he was 16. He hated the wake so much (methinks it was in his house with the body there) that neither he nor the Nana had wakes.

He grew up two doors away from the Nana.

He served on Saipan during WWII.

He was a Sergeant in the Army Air Corp...a mechanic.

He was part of the clean-up crew for Suicide Hill.

He got his college degree through the GI Bill. Slept two hours at a time in order to get everything done.

The day after his and Nana's first date there was a huge snowstorm. I have that pic of the two of them.

Until he died he could still remember songs taught to him in music appreciation class when he was little.

He was heartbreakingly compassionate.

When he was angry he spoke very very softly. Soooooooo scary.

He was an animal whisperer. I once witnessed a chipmunk eat from his hand.

He was an electrical engineer...sales.

When we'd come into the city, he'd point out Lincoln and Rockefeller Centers and say, "Mine." I thought we owned them. Nope. He had bid and won the contracts for the HVAC.

He was an autodidactic efficiency expert.

Catholic.

Loved his mother deeply despite the fact she was remarkably unloveable.

A truly "off " sense of humor.

Danced to the beat of a drummer no one ever heard before...kind of glorious to watch.

Once called my stage manager at Beauty and the Beast to ask if I could play Belle in L.A. for my adopted grandparents' 70-something anniversary. (I was mortified.)

Had a beyoooootiful singing voice.

He was great at investing. Really great. A marvelous method he imparted to me.

Adopted more than one of my girlfriends.

He could talk to most anyone about most anything.