Izzy

In addition to the bike gear and bagels my dad brought up north last week, he also brought me a copy of my great grandpa’s interview for my family tree project.

I’ll spare you the inter-family debate over DVDs and VHSs this stirred up and just say finally getting this in my hands felt like a small miracle.

I got some good QT in with my great grandpa growing up—as is bound to happen when ya live to be over 100—but I had forgotten about his specific Grandpa Izzy-isms like his basketball-sized knees, handkerchief and thick European accent.

There are lots of gems in the interview like hearing him talk about taking a job for $0.13/hour, confessing to his three (!) short stints in various European prisons, and his consistent I-don’t-know-how-but-I-know-I-can-learn attitude that led him to a string of successful self-owned laundry shops.

And here I was thinking this guy spent his life pulling quarters out from behind kid’s ears.

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