La Familia

Once, when my grandmother was pregnant, a neighbor called to invite her over. She had brought back some soppressata (hard salami) to NY from Italy. My grandmother didn’t go over right away. A couple of weeks later she had a craving for a salami sandwich. She went to visit the neighbor. “Now you come?” the neighbor said. “We finished that soppressata a long time ago.” 

soppressata

Clockwise from top row, my Aunt Lily, Inez (my mother) my Uncle Loris, my Uncle Dominic, my beautiful grandmother Letitia (in pearls) my Uncle Eddie.

            My grandmother claimed that at that exact moment she felt a sharp pain in her stomach, and she lost the baby. She truly believed that if you were pregnant and had a craving and didn't get that food immediately you would lose the child. She went on to have five beautiful healthy babies, Inez (my mother), Dominic, Lily, Loris and Edmund.

            Edmund (my Uncle Eddie) was the baby. He was a fun-loving person from the very start. One day when he was in high school, a friend talked him into skipping school (playing “hooky”) and going to Times Square instead. Uncle Eddie was dazzled by the bright lights, the people, the music and the shows.  “I was shocked,” Uncle Eddie later told me. “I thought, all this goes on, every day, while I’m in class?”  That was it for him. He never went back.

            When I was born, my grandfather went to the corner of 119^th street, where my Uncle was hanging out to tell him I was born. I remember one Christmas Eve when I was a very little girl the choir was singing at Holy Rosary, the church next door. It was midnight mass and they were singing Silent Night. I could hear the music but I was too little to realize a mass was going on. Uncle Eddie brought me to the window. “Listen,” he whispered. “It's Christmas Eve. You can hear the angels singing.”

            He shared my love for great music, especially all things Frank Sinatra.  When Sinatra recorded Old Man River, he brought the record over for me to hear. “Wait until you hear this,” he told me.  We both held our breath and listened in awe as Frank sang, “Tote that barge, lift that bale, get a little drunk and you land in jaaaaaaaaaiiiiiillllllll,” We must have played the record ten times in a row that night. You can listen to Frank sing Old Man River (the amazing note he holds starts at the 2:50 mark): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwySOwzouz4

            My Uncle Eddie and my Uncle Loris were both avid New York Giant fans. I remember the famous “shot heard round the world” game, when the Giants won the pennant, all the Giants fans in East Harlem were celebrating in the street. When my Uncle Eddie and Uncle Loris saw each other, they both fell into each other’s arms, two grown men weeping like babies.  (I think this is where my son and daughter got the "obsessed baseball fan" gene! )  Of course my brother Ronnie, a die-hard Yankee fan, told my Uncles to “enjoy it while they could” since the Yankees were going to beat them in the World Series (and he was right.) 
              My grandfather developed diabetes and heart problems and was forced to retire from his job as a fitter at Tripler's Men's Clothing Store after 20 years. He would ask me to look at the want ads with him, as he always wished he could go back to work.

                                                           My beloved grandfather Fabio

                         After a while, his condition became worse and he was afraid to go to sleep at night. He would call down to my dad after midnight and ask him to take him for a ride. One Sunday my parents were at church and my mom was praying very hard for God to give him courage and not be so afraid. I was sitting on the couch reading So Big by Edna Ferber, and my grandmother was next to me, sewing. Suddenly my grandfather motioned for her to come to him. He encircled her with his arms and gave her a long, hard kiss. Then his head went back and his eyes closed. I realized immediately what had happened and ran to the church to tell my parents. Then I ran to the corner to tell Uncle Eddie. With tears in his eyes he said, “He came to tell me when you were born and now you came to tell me he died.”  

                        We all lived on the same block, in the same building, for many years.  It helped whenever there was a death in the family that everyone was so close for support. I miss those days so much.