My only sibling, my brother, was a fan of all the holidays but mostly Thanksgiving and Christmas because he was a like a big kid. He enjoyed the festivities of food during Thanksgiving and being with family. Christmas was for all the gifts he received from family. He enjoyed his Reese’s candy with a Coca Cola, but mainly enjoyed being surrounded by so much love. His love was so pure.

We miss him so much. Holidays will never be the same.

September 15, 2007: 15 years ago, the day my life changed forever.

Tim and I woke up as friends, we were both off work and I was staying with him for the weekend. We had decided to go to Homosassa Springs State Park. On the drive over something felt different between us, something good was going to happen.

We listened to Shaggy and sang along to Mr. Bombastic (which became our wedding song). We had such a good time walking around, seeing the animals, the manatees, and just being together. On the drive back to his house we were stopped at a light and he leaned over and kissed me. That was when we went from being best friends to best friends, lovers, and eventually spouses.

My grandpa, Michael Perna, passed away from Covid in April 2020. He is dearly missed by his entire family every day. He was the absolute best grandpa and best friend. There is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him and how much he would have loved and enjoyed to see something or listen to a story I would often share with him about my day at work. My grandpa was a family man and a very hard worker; everything he did was for his family and there was no greater joy he had then seeing all of his family together.
Often when our family gets together to this day and everyone is laughing and smiling, I feel my grandpa’s presence and it’s because he instilled in his children and grandchildren that there is nothing better than family and practicing that throughout our lives keeps him alive forever. And I know he is smiling down from heaven watching us and very proud of us all. When I go back to my childhood home (the house my grandpa was born, lived in and raised his family in), all of the memories and times spent with my grandpa rush back to me. I am so very grateful I was able to live with him for 29 years of my life and to have made all of those memories I will cherish forever. Lately, I have been seeing feathers everywhere I go, in the most random places and I like to think it is him coming to say hello. We will love and miss you forever, Papa.

I would like to share with you my grandpa’s story:
Michael Perna, our Mikey, Dad & Papa, was the eldest son of Amelia and Albert Perna born in Corona, Queens, New York on September 16th 1940. He was born and raised in the very same house his grandfather and father grew up in along with his brother, Tommy and sister, AnnMarie right on 108 St and 52nd Avenue.

Michael attended and graduated from St. Leo’s Academic School where he also received his First Holy Communion and Confirmation. After graduation, he attended a trade high school. He went on to work as a handy man for Rosenthal Associates in New York City and worked his way up to becoming Superintendent, Chief Engineer and Fire Safety director for the building. He worked there for 53 years before retiring in 2014. He would wake up and walk down 111st Street in Corona to the 7 Train and get off at the 42nd St stop every day for the 53 years he worked there. On his lunch breaks, he enjoyed walking in Bryant Park and stopping at the local church. He married the love of his life, Pierina Pitoscia at St. Leo’s Church on September 10, 1960 and they raised their four beautiful children in Corona in the very same house Michael was born and raised in. His sons Albert & Michael and daughters Anna & Rachel. In the years to follow, he welcomed many grandchildren and great grandchildren. Michael was a family man and devoted to making the best life for his family. He was so proud of the family he helped grow & enjoyed spending time with all of them. He loved when his family and friends would come over to celebrate holidays, birthdays or just be together in the basement. Even though his family outgrew the basement, it will always be a place filled with happiness, comfort and love. He loved to build and fix things; you would often see him always working on painting or fixing something around the house, especially always cleaning his Jeep in his backyard. Throughout his years of working in New York City, he would collect trinkets that he would find and place them around the house or on his desk or share them with his children and grandchildren. If you looked around his house, you would see the initials “MP” or stickers of his name & address on all his belongings as he would love to label things. We like to now think of this as his way of showing us that he is always with us. He absolutely loved being down the Jersey Shore sitting on the porch of his beach house looking out at the lagoon listening to his favorite tunes. When he would go down the Shore, he would love to spend a day or two in Atlantic City with his wife playing the slot machines. Throughout the years, he donated to multiple charities such as the Sons of Italy, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, St Jude’s Children Hospital, St Anthony’s & St. Francis as well as many others.

Michael is survived by his loving wife of 59 years, Pierina Perna; his children, Albert, Anna, Michael, & Rachel; his grandchildren, Melissa, Amanda, Alissa, Dana, Andrea, Christopher, Samantha, Jonathan, Tinamarie, Mateo, Enza, his great grandchildren, Valentina, Jimmy Jr., Adrianna, Michael & Natalie and grand pups Gioia & Arya.

. . . and brought him to his favorite diner: Yesterday’s . . .

Yesterday’s is a diner in Floral Park near my Dad’s house where I used to meet him
almost every Monday and Wednesday afternoon for brunch between my husband’s
cognitive and vestibular therapy appointments for two years, from 2018 through 2019.

There just happened to be enough time to grab a quick bite for an hour or so, sandwiched
in-between these two appointments and Yesterday’s was conveniently located, kind of
right between these 2 locations . . . and we had to eat at some point anyway!

Oh, what simple and well worth their price in gold these times were!
These were the most casual and loving conversations.
At the time, we didn’t realize how special these simple get togethers were.

Yesterday’s was our place!
We even had our usual waitress … with whom I caught up with about six months after my Dad passed. I ran in for five minutes to tell her what had happened!
She knew. She remembered my Dad. She gave me a hug. We both cried.
She knew how special those times at Yesterday’s were.
(I’m crying now!)

A little while back …
I had a dream that I broke my Dad OUT of the hospital and brought him to his favorite diner, Yesterday’s!

My husband Mike did so many wonderful things for me over our almost 50 years together. Maybe the big things were to be expected when you love each other. But it was the little things that truly showed his love for me.

There are many but the one that always comes to my mind is when our garage was always so full of stuff that I usually couldn’t pull my car into it. So every morning before I went to work, Mike would go outside (he worked from home so he was usually in his pajamas) with his paper towels and wipe all the condensation off my windows and mirrors so I would be safe. That was just one little thing that meant so much to me. He would turn on the car and heat it up in the winter or turn the air conditioning on in the summer so it would be comfortable for me before I left for work.

When I came home at night, he would have the bed made and our bedroom vacuumed. He knew how much I appreciated that. He is the love of my life.