FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 8, 2018 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 79
A love letter to my son
VICTORIA’S
SECRETS
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
vschneps@gmail.com
tweet me @vschneps
ETS
m
Josh was born before his due
date to great expectations and
joy. He was my fourth child,
a son with three special sisters
before him.
I had gone for a pre-Caesarian
checkup and when the doctor
saw the meconium staining in
my test, he said, “We’ve got to do
the surgery right now!” Within
the hour, I had delivered my
fourth redheaded child. What a
exciting beginning for a life that
has been a continuous stream of
sustaining specialness.
Having just celebrated his
fourth decade it’s a chance to
look back on how powerful Josh’s
presence on earth has been to
me.
As I write this, I remember
with a smile on my face his birth
announcement that said, in capital
letters, “WE DID IT!” It was a
boy to carry on the family name,
and for me, another protector
here on earth.
From his beginning days
growing up in Bayside, Josh was
a street-smart kid. He stayed that
way even after we moved to the
suburbs while he was in elementary
school. When he went to
high school, he wanted to play
football but I feared for concussions,
so I guided him into
baseball, where he excelled as a
catcher. I can still picture him
behind the hitter’s box squished
down, guiding the pitcher and
using his strong arm to get runners
thrown out on the basepaths.
He seemed to be a natural
athlete, and he thought about
becoming a professional ballplayer,
but his body didn’t agree.
He broke his shoulder, he broke
his foot, he broke his ankle. It
was not to be his career. He did
think about a sports management
career, but after an internship
at the National Baseball
Association, he realized there
was little “sport” to it.
When we moved to Melville,
he saved me one night in a
snowstorm. I remember arriving
home having driven through
a blizzard and trying to get up
my steep, icy, snow-covered
driveway, and failing miserably.
I decided to leave the car at
the bottom of the hill and walk
up the slippery slope, but found
myself falling backwards again
and again.
Fortunately, I had a phone, and
after several failed attempts, I
called Josh asking him to rescue
me. He picked me up and carried
me all the way up the steep
driveway putting me down safely
at the entrance to the garage. No
man ever carried me over “the
threshold,” let alone a hill!
Josh had gone to University
of Indiana’s Kelley School of
Business and, when he graduated,
he got a job as an investment
banker at Bank of America. After
he got his first big bonus, he
called me late one night and said,
“Mom, if I’m going to work 24/7,
can I come to work for you?”
I had to take a pay cut to afford
him, but it was the best financial
decision I ever made.
He came to work for me at our
Howard Beach office and, under
the guidance of the editor, began
to learn the ways Within a short me in the Bayside But Josh understood
our news business
from all different
vantage points,
including distribution.
He
learned that
part early
when he was
a teenager.
One night,
my distributor
had called
me and was
so drunk, couldn’t deliver newspapers. and I got in the we distributed newspapers.
I gained, as he did, a newfound
respect for distributors.
It’s a critically important and
very tough job!
Josh learned that, and when he
got into the business, he understood
what it takes, a 24-hour,
7-day-a-week commitment to
make it successful.
People think I work long
hours, but Josh has the same
work ethic. This ethic has made
it possible for us to grow our
business into the largest community
newspaper group in New
York state.
Beyond business, of course,
having him by my side has
helped me in ways that can never
be there when my
Bassen, died
suddenly of a heart
attack a week
before our wedding.
Josh
stood by me
and helped
me to have
c o u r a g e
and, at one
point, he
said sadly,
M o m ,
s--t happens!”
I had
never heard
that expression
before, but I’d
forget it again.
up the helplessness
moment — and
Josh’s When my husband Stu was
deathly ill in the hospital, Josh
wouldn’t leave my side. When we
got the call to come back to the
hospital, he drove me to Stu’s bedside
and understood I wanted to
take Stu home. After a year’s illness,
Stu passed away in my arms
at home, and Josh was by my side
then, too. He was there just outside
my bedroom door, allowing
me as long as I needed to say
goodbye. He gave me great comfort
to get through that crisis.
Life is a series of struggles, successes
and joyous times, and Josh
being there with me through it
all has meant the world to me.
So on his special birthday, I
sent him a love letter to show
him my gratitude, pride and
appreciation for who he is as
a son, a husband, a brother, a
father and a friend. How lucky
I am, along with all those whose
lives he touches.
Josh with sisters Samantha and Elizabeth, and myself
ays of the business.
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So Josh
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suddenly
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It summed up
lessness of the mom
Josh’s helpfulness.
Josh and his wife Tracey
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