I got to go to Massachusetts in March and spend some time with my family. On the Saturday I was there they held a big Sons of Italy shindig. My parents have been members for a long time and my father is a former president so they were thrilled to get all dressed up and go to the party. They did not get home until 11:30! That is insane for them now but shows what a great time they had. When they walked in my mother could no stop talking about it. It was so clear they enjoyed themselves.
My family makes fun of me because I take lots of pictures but look how good my parents look, how could I not take their picture? I guess mostly they say stuff because I still use an actual camera but hey at least it is digital and not a 35mm film camera. See those gold necklaces my mother has on? I do not remember her without them. I don't know where they will go when she goes but I will miss them. Her without those necklaces is like Ernie and Bert without striped shirts. The charm is her zodiac, the scorpion. Although I cannot picture her without them, they are not her and whatever happens to them is fine. They are completely her but she is not them. I have better things with me each and every day that my mother gave me.
Me and my niece Marina helped my dad get dressed. It was 3 in the afternoon and the party started at 7 that night and he wanted to get dressed? See his clutched hand in the picture, it does not work so well and he needs help getting all dressed up like this. My mother told him that he was crazy and it was too early to get ready and she would not help him get dressed. I took his wanting to get dressed too early not as a sign that he is old and crazy, which he is, but that he was excited, truly excited over this event. My dad rarely gets excited over anything so I asked Marina if she would help me dress Papa, which is what all the kids call him. She is so good and said, "Sure Papa we'll help you". Oh god, it took an hour!!! It was very funny. Like I said, he was excited so he was in a good mood but man it was so hard because Marina and I kept laughing and laughing. I mean she is a nurse but he is her grand father so that is kinda icky for her. He got his underwear, shirt and socks on by himself and we just had to do the rest. I buttoned his shirt, got his pants on and tucked his shirt in. Marina was looking at me soooooo relieved that I did all that heavy lifting. But I was in the front and she was in the back and so I reached in and buttoned his suspenders to his pants in the front. I said Marina you need to reach in the back and button his suspenders to his pants. She asked in a very serious tone. "Are you serious?". I guess reaching into the back of your grand dad's trousers to button his suspenders does have a bit of a ewww factor. So I replied "Yes I need to hold everything together, just button them real quick.". She said, "Ohhhhhhh Papa!". And then she reached in and we all started laughing, me, my father and my mother. It was a really funny family moment. Then Marina and I got the rest of him squared away, his collar and tie and jacket. But even with all that work and all the laughs, we had him done at 4, again the function started at 7. So he went out and sat on the porch, like he normally does each day, although that day he was all dressed up in his suit as he sat and watched the traffic go by.
