My Nephew--Charlie

It's time to kick back the way back machine, to get a fresh reminder, of who, started the kiddie revolution, in the O'Leary family...See, on June 10th, 1969, a savior, was born unto this world, and his name was Charlie Gries...

Well, let's not get carried away, Charlie wasn't the Christ child, but he did get the royal treatment for being the first grandchild born...See, Charlie, was born a South-Sider, out of Little Company of Mary Hospital. He got to spend his first year living with us on 86th Street, with his Mom, my sister, Maureen, while his Dad was off in Vietnam...

There, he was held a plenty...just as good a baby as any. Even his Mom, would leave Charlie, on the basement floor, on a blanket, as an infant, and zoom up to John's Grocery & Liquors, up on 87th Street...

I, only 6, was left to babysit, little Charlie, and I can remember, intensively studying, his every move, scared to death, something bad, would happen, while his Mom, was away, probably picking up baby food or diapers...

I was practically holding my breath, expecting him, to start choking, or take a dump or start crying...my ability to cope with a baby in the house, was put to the test, quite often, back then...

Young Charlie, probably never realized how much, he got the royal treatment from his Gramma & Grampa, who were beaming to be grand-parents...And my Dad, was certainly glad it was a boy, I bet, establishing a new pattern, for the Grand-kids, of not being all girls, right out of the box, like his 5 initial daughters being born...

There we all lived, a quaint existence, with one of those special Stars, in our front picture window, to signify, that someone, his Dad, older Charlie, was off, fighting in the Vietnam War.

Inevitably, older Charlie, did come back, a year later, and the young family, moved out to Blue Island, near a huge, railroad yard...It was a very spacious, big apartment, but you could hear the train whistles, blowing, quite loud, off in the distance...

As little Charlie grew, he developed his own little personality. Always, a little destructive little tyke...who actually called his Mom, Mooo-weeen, instead of Mommy...He got into heaps and heaps of silly little troubles, back then, and led his brothers and sister, down many an adventure, as he grew and grew and grew...

I can vividly remember Charlie, being about 6, himself, living in Arlington Heights, just tearing that house apart...I was out on their screened in porch, one day, and I sifted thru all the toys, strewn about, and dug out, one of my favorite, old stuffed animals, Toto, the monkey.

My sister, must have brought with her, when she moved out of our house...Yikes, Toto, looked, like he got, run over by a garbage truck, and then some, all mangled and distorted...About 5 minutes later, I found another, one of my old favorites, an original version of Winne the Pooh, and its eyes were dangling out of its head, missing an arm and stuffing bursting at the seams...

I thought these little Gries kids, were savages...the loud & proud Thomas, the spunky little squirrell, Michelle, and the youngest, perky Patrick... Those crazy kids left those gentle stuffed toys, in such horrible condition...because they just had a more wild pattern, of ripping things apart, back then...I can remember, one time...things got a little crazy...

Young Charlie actually took his little brother, Thomas, and hid in the basement, while his parents, and all of us, desperately searched for them, because we had to get to the church, because his little brother, Patrick, was being baptized, that day...

We searched and searched and searched, no luck...The whole family, finally, threw up their hands, and raced off to the church, while I was left behind, alone, to search more, for the two little missing beasts...

Suddenly, the mischeivous two emerged, with big smiles, laughing and laughing, thinking they had pulled off a huge feat, getting us to be unable to find them, down in the basement, behind a big stack of old clothes...

Little did they know, their Mom and Dad, had quite a little awakening for them, when they got back, from the church Christening...Egad...I think big Charlie, had to be angrier than ever, and their mother, Maureen, mortified, but relieved, they hadn't been kidnapped, or something.

Time moved on, and little Charlie and I had some awesome memories, playing whiffle ball up in Lake Geneva, in the backyard...He vividly can recall those tussles, better than I can, believe it or not...

He remembers, me screaming out, Walt-no neck-Williams, was up to bat for the Sox and the pitcher was Vida Blue of the A's...Stuff like that, are hilarious...as we did romp about the funky little yard, for some endless, baseball games, in the Lake Geneva sunshine, so long ago.

Just a flood of old memories, of all the young Gries kids, running all about, up at the lake, their beat up old, grizzly old faded, cherry red Ford, station wagon, out back, with its back-side rusting off, almost completely. A far cry, from the Mercedes Benz, they drive today...

It's so, so funny, to laugh about those fun times, when Charlie was a bit of a handful, endlessly ruling his little brothers and sister around...And along with their cousins, grew and grew and grew, because time could not stop them, from growing up quick, and growing up strong...

Little Charlie, the first kiddie to kick things off...back in 1969...some 40 years ago...It still does seem like yesterday for me...but Charlie now, is quite grown, with a wonderful wife, Christine and two beautiful young girls, precociously shy & oh so sweet, Kaitlyn & Emma, living in, where else, Arlington Heights...

I can remember when Charlie started dating his wonderful wife, as they were, living in Ukrainian Village...on the West Side...Charlie, back then with the largest CD music selection, I ever seen, strewn about their apartment, in an old brick structure, on a quiet street surrounded by great ethnic places to eat...They were so happy, back then, and they didn't have much, if anything, but that really didn't matter to those two...

Charlie...Well, he's got the world by a string, nowadays, a consummate sports junkie, teaching the local kids, Physical Education (gym), up at the elementary school and venturing off for various soccer clubs, he coaches or plays for...as the day, turns into night...

You see, Charlie grew up to be, quite the soccer player, once scoring 55+ goals, one season, in high school...for Saint Viator's...and that passion for soccer is truly always gonna be a huge passion, of his, even when he does quite playing...He'll still be watching those European & World Cup soccer games, intensely, over the Fox Soccer cable T.V station...whenever he can...

I was just with Charlie, a week ago, when we went down, to a DePaul basketball game. It was a great time, to go see a game together, which we always do, at least once a year. And as we drive to and from the game, many an old memory will pop into our heads, and have us laughing of those old days, some 40 years ago...

I'm sure we'll have some more of those old stories, about all the Gries kids, as we slide along. Because each and every one of my nieces and nephews, every single one of them, hold a special place in my heart.

And I know, they feel the same way. We had such a ball, growing up together, just endless laughs from day to night. And it's a shame, we couldn't have captured, all of those times, on film, because those glorious times, were unbelievably fun...for each and every one of us...