My maternal grandfather "Potis" (the drinker) was born in Meligalas, Greece in 1910. His father was a kind man who worked as a customs official and his mother was a fierce, yet loving homemaker. They lived a comfortable life in the country. Potis was a blond blue-eyed child with a beautiful smile. He was obsessed with having his picture taken at every opportunity.
The years following World War I and II found Potis mourning for the death of his baby sister Penelope. This mourning lasted his entire life and brought tears to his eyes every time her memory came to mind. Potis grew up to be a large man who spent a lot of his parents' money on luxuries that were unheard of during times of hardship. He also became a lawyer and was fluent in German, French, Latin, Ancient Greek and Esperanto. He drank wine like a fish thus earning his nickname "the drinker". He played competitive chess at popular Athenian hangouts.
When he found himself ready for marriage, he set his eyes on a young girl from the neighboring village of Zevgolatio. Kalliope "Kali" Alexopoulos weighed her options carefully, but could not resist his kindness for too long. She had lost one of her brothers to the execution squad and her hopes of becoming a teacher would never materialize. Potis worshipped the ground that she walked on and turned all of their finances over to her, including the business handlings of his small office. It was quite possibly the smartest thing he ever did.
Kali and Potis had three pregnancies and two daughters: Penelope "Popi" and Konstantia "Dina" Avra. They moved to Athens during post World War II conditions of extreme poverty and hunger. Dina (my mother) contracted typhus and narrowly escaped death. After civil war, life became a little more settled. Potis never made a lot of money as he refused to charge women anything while practicing family law and handed off his money to various charities. He bribed people in the court system with sesame candy that was hidden in most of his pockets. Kali had a tight fist and managed to save a small fortune. They sent both their girls to college. Popi had an arranged marriage in Canada and then moved to the U.S. Dina worked at Olympic Airways and relocated to the U.S. She eloped in 1976 after my grandfather refused to accept my father's marriage offer. My father and grandfather never met each other again.
Prior to yesterday, Potis had never been hospitalized, but once after he broke his leg in the 60's. The doctors told him then that he should lose weight and as soon as he could walk, he took on hiking and never really stopped walking unless he was sleeping. He carried his 'fat' pictures around all the time so he can show people how much weight he had lost. He maintained several trails in the mountains where he would disappear for days at a time. He liked collecting things left behind by people camping in the woods -- things that did not belong anywhere. He hated wild dogs and hunters. Amongst his strangest finds in the woods was a pair of baby magpies that had fallen off their nest. He obliged my grandmother to feed them until they would grow up and then released them back into the wild. He also collected baseball hats, acorns, pine cones and various pieces of wood that turned into a large collection of ornamented walking sticks.
Potis practiced family law until the age of 85. Much to his dismay, both his daughters became divorced and Kali turned to religion in search of truth and salvation. He spent the remaining of his life exploring the woods, until the last 4 years of his life which were mostly spent listening to the radio and pacing on the balcony facing the Parthenon. His legendary temper and stubbornness which tormented his wife and daughters were surpassed by his affection and tenderness towards his grandchildren. He spoiled us rotten at every opportunity, slipped us money when nobody was watching, measured our height every week, wore any clothes we bought him that made him look like a fool, ate any food we prepared for him even if it was rotten, danced and sang for us on demand and defended our misbehavior without exception.
His memory was sharp till the end and he recounted endless stories of his youth to us continually. I tried to record our last encounter, but I don't regret keeping it just in my head. He was upset that my generation was left to deal with global warming. In the last few years that I visited him, he would mostly shake my hand and tell me that I was the pillar of his universe and that he supports me in all my endeavors without judgement. He stood by his phone on holidays waiting for us to call him. He would pick up the phone and scream out "you are the best and finest!" This Christmas, I showed him my treks to various places on my laptop and was impressed by his immediate expectation of zooming in and out features. Years ago he paid to have himself composited wearing my cousin's airforce uniform in front of a hillside, next to a herd of sheep. He had never used any technology other than his analog FM radio and 1950's television set, which he stopped using ten years ago.
Potis died this morning quickly and peacefully after being rushed to the hospital with kidney pain and breathing difficulty. In the last two years he had been anemic and his bone marrow was shutting down. I looked at his blood tests and told him that he had an anemia common to people who have been very athletic in their lives -- mostly young people. He was very happy to hear that he wore himself out finally because all his friends had already died. My grandmother, aunt and mother were 10 feet away from him when he passed. He wore a smile on his face until the very end and didn't protest a single thing for once in his life.
We miss you grandpa.
Kelly, Dimitri, George and Marientina
