Mac Rush Lives On

Or I should say, the spirit of Mac Rush lives on. For those of you that may not know who Mac Rush is, boy did you miss out. Mac was the kind of man who could make any person feel special. He'd listen to what you have to say as if your opinion and ideas were of great worth, even if he felt you were full of B.S.

Mac knew how to host a party even if his priorities were a bit different then my own, sending out invitations in the form of fliers with "Beer" being listed no less then 15 times, just so there was no mistake that alcohol was being served. Other favorites of his, ears of corn soaked in sugar water and then grilled with the husks on so that when the carcinogen blackened outside was peeled away a delightfully steamed ear of corn with the most wonderful smokey flavor was revealed.

There was also the steamed clams. No summer party was complete without the steamed clams with loads of real butter, usually with a touch of garlic, served for dipping. MaryLee would pass on the clams but with great delight Mac would loudly proclaim that was fine, more for him!

This man also had a great love for his family. When he was younger and inexperienced, it was hard for him to relate to his children but he learned and by the time his grandchildren came around, he had overcome his fears and relished the role of "grandpa" taking great delight in every accomplishment, tale, wonder and smile given by his grandchildren.

Unfortunately for those of us that loved him, and I consider myself one of the lucky ones who's life has been bettered by the influence of this marvelous man, we lost him at the tender age of 60 to a fatal heart attack. Jane is the only one to remember her grandfather, Kate was only 20 months old and Ean not even a glint in Kent's eye when he died.

Yes I am proud to have called Mac "dad" as an adult and for many years as a child he was not just "daddy" but he was "my daddy", something he often mentioned even after I was married with a streak of pride in his voice.

My middle son often turns my thoughts to my father. His interest are so "Mac like" sometimes, I can't help but see bits of my dad in his words and thoughts. It probably doesn't help that I know my father would gain so much joy out of Ean's incredible vocabulary and his ability to articulate his thoughts and postulate hypothesis's concerning the workings of electronics, forces of nature and pretty much anything he tries to figure out.

Ean loves to find answers, he searches for reasons, he dissects what he knows and strings together the most logical conclusions. The amazing part is that when he finds he is wrong (in anything with exception of sibling matters), he's quick to restate his hypothesis with a bit of triumph in his voice to finally know the answer.

At eighteen months I noticed his love of time pieces. Wrist watches especially were fascinating to Ean. Oh my goodness, how that tugged at my heart strings. Mac was obsessed with the time. He loved fine wrist watches and devoted an unheard of amount of time making sure all of the clocks and watches in the house was set according to the "Navel observatory time". The number was on speed dial on my parents house phone.

Actually at one time, he didn't get the phone completely on the cradle and logged over fifteen hours just getting the time! He managed to get the over $600.00 charge dropped from the phone company, and with great glee shared his mistake. Because, you know, it was hysterical and he knew it.

Back to the point, today I walked into my mother's house, we were going to set up her air conditioning and the boys were all there waiting for us. Ean had spent the night and there sitting on her arm chair was three, yes three radios, all blaring at the same time. Ean was considerate enough to set them all to the same station.

My mom said that she had a headache.

She also said that Ean positioned the radio's around his head last night and insisted he needed them all on to go to sleep. Oh my, the child is obsessed with SURROUND SOUND, even if he doesn't know what it's called!!! Instantly my thoughts turned to my youth, actually to around Ean's age when I watched my daddy stringing wires throughout the house to improve his placement of speakers so he could appreciate the quality of sound coming from different directions.

So Mac, my dear daddy, your grandson obviously has his priorities straight, he thinks like you do. I know where ever you are, you're damn proud.