I’m one of those guys who believes in an afterlife.  Being raised as and still a practicing Catholic after 75 years, I look forward to a life in heaven. One of my main hopes is that when I finally get there, I shall be greeted by the multitude of family and friends that have preceded me to give me a big “Welcome home Charlie.” It’s really a pretty simple concept for me.

I was put on this earth to love my God, to live my life as best I could, to be a good husband, to raise good children and help others along the way. I figure if I do all of those things, Jesus, my Lord and Savior will be happy to see me. The fact that He died so I could be saved makes my ending up in heaven a no brainer. As I grow older, I also think more and more about the word, “legacy” which is the “handing down” of something. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that one may leave things behind of which he’s not aware. 

As January 23^rd, 2022, will mark the 85^st anniversary of my deceased parents, Henry and Catherine’s, marriage in 1937, I started thinking about them in this regard. I wonder if they, in their spiritual existence, can fully realize what they left as their legacy of love. When Mom passed away in 2002, they had been married for 65 years. Their progeny includes two married children, 4 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren. Each of my parents knew their responsibility to the marriage and to the family.

Roles were clearly defined in those days and those roles were learned from watching their immigrant parents who ventured to this country from the island of Ischia, and the city of Palermo. Dad worked and earned the money for the family and Mom did mostly everything else regarding the home. She cooked, cleaned, shopped, paid the bills and most importantly, raised the kids. When we were growing up, it was unusual for the wife to work outside of the home. Luckily for many kids we knew, our middle class, mostly Italian-American neighborhood was chock full of “housewives” who were more than happy to accept that role my mother did so well.   

Neither of our parents ever attended college but they were both natural teachers. As the son, I was the recipient of many lessons from my father. As he was taught by his father, Crescenzo, Dad taught me about work ethic, accepting responsibility, dealing with adversity, fairness, respectfulness and honor. My sister, Kathy, learned a lot from Mom. Happily for her family, she inherited Mom’s cooking talent. She also learned how to be a selfless Mom and fierce guardian of her children. We also learned firsthand the benefits of discipline and how well it worked when used at the right time. There were no “timeouts” when we were kids. The only discipline related elapsed time I ever knew were the seconds between the grabbing of the belt and the contact upon my lower extremity. And, while today the very thought of administering corporal punishment is considered a near capital crime by some “enlightened” ones, I am proud to repeat a line I have used often to describe my loving Sicilian mother: “Mom was only 5’ tall and never played baseball in her life but she could hit you with a shoe from 20 feet away.”  

It’s important to note that I cannot think of one time that I didn’t deserve the discipline I received.

I hope as Mom and Dad look down upon those who share their DNA, they will feel a sense of pride and accomplishment.  They left behind a loving group of people, all with varying amounts of their inherited traits and talents. My parent’s spirits live within us and I’m happy to say that we speak of them frequently, so that they are not just abstract characters to our grandchildren, who never had the opportunity to meet them in the flesh.


Charles Sacchetti is the author of two books, It’s All Good: Times and Events I’d Never Want to Change and Knowing He’s There: True Stories of God’s Subtle Yet Unmistakable Touch. Both are available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other online outlets. Contact him at Worthwhilewords21@gmail.com