Last Thursday, December 4, 2008 was a hard and sad day for me and my family:

My Grandfather, Geronimo Valdez, Jr. passed away, he was 85 years old. This is a brief recount of the things we did together:

12/10/08 Por Valdez Chico!

Hello, ladies and gentlemen . . . nod, a bit less formally, hello to my family and friends;
“Ohhh, quieres mucho, tu!” Tio always used to say that to me, or the famous phrase: “Vas patras, tu…” Either way, my Tio was the best Grandpa a boy and now the man presenting this speech to you could ever have.

He’d take me anywhere and everywhere. To San Francisco by the beach to have fun in the sand and take cool 70’s plaid pants on the Grandson pictures, me smiling with his sunglasses on atop Tia’s ‘65 Ford Mustang hood.

Being an “Only Son,” it was a privilege when spending the night with Tio & Tia; which as you all know, back in the 70’s I practically lived at Tio’s from Friday after school until Sunday night after my parents long recovery from partying; watching Led Zeppelin, Eric Clapton, The Doors, Jimmy Hendrix, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young up at the Fillmore in S.F. ;) It’s OK Dad, you then got to instill an amazing taste in Rock N Roll music in me and hey, I got a new Transformer toy every weekend, YEAH BABY!!! We’d often take a quick trip to the closest arcade. Tio and Tia would drop me off inside the local arcade and be waiting outside in their car, sometimes for hours while I played away and enjoyed myself. They’d have a sandwich or snack from the liquor store close by and chat the night away while I spent quarter after quarter on perfecting my Jedi Knight reaction times.

I remember Tia telling me, “Mijo, here’s another $5 dollars, but don’t tell Tio cause that’ll be $10 you’ve spent here on these games…now go play quick, and don’t say NOAUSSSING to you Tio!!!!” J Those were the days. There were the unforgettable weekends at Tia’s playing my Atari 2600 (a friend of mine’s Dad worked for Atari and every three or four months would give me two EPROM chips to stick in the special cartridge he gave me to play the new games that just came out (I got em’ for free and everyone else was buying them at Toys R Us or Kmart, Radio Shack, etc, etc).

I used to love it when I got older, at the end of Junior High or being a Junior or Senior at Cupertino High School . . . Tio would start a debate with me, and I knew I was right about a certain thing and he’d pipe back at me, “Yeah, that’s what I mean, that’s right…that’s what I was going to say!” Ahhh, My Tio. He was an amazing gentleman. Both Tio and my Dad taught me to be gentle, never to hit a woman, to treat them with respect and dignity. To say what many kids these days forget or never think about, they are simple phrases: Please, Thank you, and You're Welcome. My Dad especially taught me about chivalry and to be courteous, respectful, and thankful for everything I have.

I’m really going to miss Tio. He would cherish every time I showed up at Tia’s, whether for dinner or just to stop by with some donuts from Donut Wheel on Saratoga-Sunnyvale Rd and 280. Every time I came through the door he knew I’d make a quick right, walk over to Tia and kiss her on the lips or on the forehead and give her a hug, “Hello.” After all, Ladies first, right? I’d then wander over his direction; he was always plopped down on the couch watching TV. ;) He’d see me come around the corner from the kitchen and just beam with pride and love—being so happy and glad I had come over. He was like the NEW Puppy you get from the Pound, that puppy knew you were its new owner that would give it undivided attention and the Pup would be elated and excited as all get go to see you, his tail wagging 100 miles an hour and never stopping; that’s how happy he’d be to see us all come over, what a smile, it always made me smile to see him light up that way.

A couple funny things I’ll mention, he always thought that if he left his old cars in the driveway getting older, that, “Mijo, you better believe it that car's gonna be worth more because it’s a classic!” Well, that “Classic 396” was only worth $2,000 when he sold it; but prior to the sale he told me, “Ohh yeah, don’t worry I’m gonna get $4,500 for that Chevelle, you watch….easy!” And I think my Dad picked up what I call the “Urgency Syndrome” from Tio. If Tio wanted something done now or tomorrow at 9:00am, then by-golly it better friggin’ be done at the time he wanted it done; if you couldn’t do it, then he’d find someone else who could help him or do it himself, cause you weren’t good enough (until the next time he needed some heavy lifting done that he couldn’t do). His task had to be done now, man, NOW!!! :)

Tio always kept me laughing or smiling in one way or another, I’ll never forget that. And as we used to say in a short game on the drive home from school to his house: “OK, alright . . . . alright OK, OK, alright, OK, OK, ALRIGHT ! ! !”

I Love You, Tio. God Bless You, keep you safe, watch over us now that your with God and Jeana and when you see Grandma Cruz, tell her I said, “Ohhh Lord!” I miss Grandma Cruz’s laugh, she was an Angel. I will always remember you, Tio, and thank you for touching my life, in your special way. I’d like to repeat the last words I said to you before you passed, you were waiting for all of us to get there. I kneeled over at your side and said, “Tio, I’m here. I love you with all my heart. You’re the best Grandpa a man could ever have and I don’t want you to be scared…..there’s no need to be afraid, because whether you go now or in 5 or 10 years, you will be with God and you’ll get to see Grandma Eusevia, My Grandma Cruz, and Grandma and Grandpa Greig and all of our family that have passed before us. You tell that special lady of mine, Jeana that you want some Spaghetti and homemade meatballs and Lasagna. But most importantly tell her I said “Hello and we miss her” from Breanna and me. I love you so much, Tio, but it’s OK to go if it’s time. Don’t let us hold you back, God needs you by his side to help others in Heaven and here on Earth. Godspeed, and God Bless you . . . I will always be with you in Spirit and you’ll always be in my Heart.

So I finished talking to him, knelt over closer and gave him a hug, and with that said, approximately 5 or 10 minutes later, my Tio took his last breath and passed away on Thursday, December 4, 2008, at 7:20pm.

Thank you all for coming today, it means the world to Tia, My Dad, me and my family. Anybody got three shots of Tequila or some J.D. I might need to get blitzed and drown out my sadness for a few days. I’m just kidding, but I will have one or two for Geronimo Valdez, Jr….why, because he was THE MAN!

God bless all of you and again, thank you for coming to this service, we appreciate it more than you know. Take care, ALL . . . . .