Thinking of my "Pappa-cho"...

My father is one of the most amazing men I've ever known in my entire life. Crap, the man is one of the most amazing people I've ever read about.

My entire life, I've never been able to go anywhere, and I mean it when I say "anywhere", without meeting someone that my father knows, helped, saved, taught to read, or at least recognizes my last name. I guess that's why I still get a little surprised when someone doesn't know how to spell G-O-L-E-M-O.

My father's name is Greggory George Golemo. He's half-Polish and half-Scicilian (which I always say "makes him dumb with a bad attitude"). He was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois. Greggory Golemo is probably the smartest man I've ever known. He's a father of four, healthy, precocious kids and a devoted husband to a brilliant, yet eccentric tri-lingual High School teacher. All of these are accomplishments onto themselves. However, there is so much more to my father.

He is a social worker for the State of Illinois Dept. of Human Services. He's not just a social worker, though. He's the County Administrator for what has become the most efficient office in the entire state. Oh, but there's more... he's recently taken upon the task of whipping the office of an adjacent county into shape. If the task of running two offices in a poor part of the state in a struggling economy concurrently wasn't asking enough, lets add in that the new office handles about 4 times the caseloads. I'll add that he's kicking arse there.

I could tell you about my father's faith. He's a devoted Catholic man who's recently started the 5 year journey of once a month weekend courses to become a deacon in the Catholic church. Everyday my father reads and studies his bible, you'll pardon the pun for I can't resist, religiously.

My friends beg my father to tell ghost stories.

My father is also a devoted and respected Boy Scout and Girl Scout. He was recently honored by the Bishop in a special ceremony to give him the "St. George Medal" for superior service to the Church through Scouting. He also serves on the Council Board of Directors for the local Girl Scout Council.

Nobody laughs harder at my father's jokes than he does.

I could go on and on and on and on about all of the things my father has done. I could tell you about how, in college, as editor of the school paper, he won a college pulitzer for the pictures he took when he and a dear friend, who was a Black Panther, were the only press allowed onto the premises of the Black Panther headquarters in the solemn hours following the infamous "Black Panther Raid". I could tell you how he didn't graduate with his high school class because he stood up for a friend.

My father has incredible handwriting. Nuns taught him.

Even with all these accomplishments, and many more, I can tell you that what makes my father proud has nothing to do with plaques, badges, or medals and absolutely everything to do with his God, children and wife. The best part of my father's days are when he speaks with us, and he lets us know that. To many people, myself included, my father could have been capable of doing "Great Things". But I know that if I were to ask my Dad for his opinion on that, with a smile he'd say "the only 'great thing' I've ever done is say 'yes' to the Lord. Great things, are meant for you, son."