James J. Tedora

TEDORA, JAMES J., 50, of Little Egg Harbor, N.J., passed away Tuesday, October 6, 2020, at home.  In his words…No one cares where I went to college or what I did for a living, those things don’t say anything about who I am. So this is me, in my own words. I know my wife will correct my grammar. Things I will not miss - corned beef and cabbage (yuck), my wife’s heated blanket, sifting the litter box, vegetables, IV’s, Ensure, and ALS. Things I will miss- holding Jennie’s hand, a glass of Balvenie and a really good cigar after dinner. A Guinness on tap. A round of golf (wish I had played more), an afternoon of shooting.  My wife’s cooking, especially her short ribs, scungilli in hot sauce, and her meatloaf. My mother in law’s meatballs. Long car rides where I got to control the music, or even better, Izzy would practice her latest songs. Movie nights with my girls, Hearing my girls say I love you too, and I love you three. My wife teasing me about my choice in music (punk rules!), my choice of TV (science fiction is the best), or my weekend clothing choices. Decorating for Halloween and Christmas. Giant Christmas trees. The advent calendar. A cookie warm from the oven. Izzy explaining her liberal views and the definitions of things I don’t understand. Izzy talking about anything. Izzy. My Ithaca and Donovan sweatshirts and my Guinness hat. Watching Izzy on stage. The voices I love the best chatting about things like makeup and clothes and girl things and Broadway actors I have never heard of. Late night talks with my wife. The three of us laying in our bed talking and laughing. The sound of Izzy laughing in her room, and listening to her shower concerts. The feeling of our cats snuggled up next to me. Remy laying on top of me and following me everywhere. Being with the whole family and watching Izzy with Quinn and Lulu and Morgan. Listening to my wife talk to her sister and wondering what they could possibly talk about for so long. My father in law’s booming voice and ability to build and fix anything. Talks by the fire pit with Mike.  I will not get to be there in person for so many things, but I will be there. I will be there for every wedding, baby, graduation, and new home. I will be in every note Izzy sings, in every sarcastic comment she makes, in her spectacular successes and heartbreaking disappointments. I will be there when she falls in love and when she has her babies. I am mad that I will physically miss these things, but I am grateful for the amazing life I was given. My girls will miss me and grieve for me and cry for me. But I hope they will smile and laugh and talk about me. I hope they will have long and happy lives filled with laughter and tears and love. I want them to have giant Christmas trees, and big family dinners, and nights laying in bed laughing and talking. And when Star Wars is on, or they catch the whiff of a cigar, or a Dropkick Murphy’s song comes on, they will smile and think of me.  James is survived by his loving wife Jennifer, and beloved daughter Isabella.  Visitation will be Saturday, October 10, from 10 AM until the Time of Remembrance at 12 PM, at WOOD FUNERAL HOME, 134 EAST MAIN ST., TUCKERTON, N.J.  Entombment will follow in Greenwood Cemetery, N. Green St., Tuckerton.  

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