[tomwed]

I called my Grandparents Nana and Poppa. They were from Hoboken and married when he was 16 and she was 14. I guess my mom came shortly thereafter. This was never discussed. My dad told me that Poppa was his best friend. This was after he met my mom. For the record, my folks didn’t rush to get married.

My dad and grandfather owned a gas station, pumping gas and fixing cars for a little while. I remember my grandfather as the kind of guy who would do anything to get a laugh. One time he ended up in the emergency room with a toy horse stuck to his head. My little brother had this toy horse with a suction cup buttom that would stick to the tray of his high chair. Poppa stuck the suction cup to his head to be funny and couldn’t get it off. Everyone found him funny. He would be sittng at the kitchen table pretending it was a piano and keep looking at his feet, complaining that the pedals were not working. He was one of those broke old timers that kept change in his pocket and was always handing it out to one of us cousins. He would love to squeeze our legs right above the knee just to see us jump. He was Irish and sang dirty ditties to the kids. We had no idea what he was talking about but only remember how it fired up Nana. She was all Italian and whenever she talked to him it always started out with “For cryin out loud, Eddy.” As in “For cryin out loud, Eddy don’t be singing those songs to the children or “For cryin out loud Eddy don’t be putting all that red pepper on the spaghetti. “ Nana was a little oveweight. As a young boy I felt lucky sitting in the back seat of the car next to her. I had the best naps leaning against her big, soft arm. I could fit my entire ear inside her vaccination mark. Other’s could make her laugh very easily and my uncles were the funniest men I knew. Tears would come off the sides of her eyes from the things they said. We used to all play Michagan rummy in their country house. Country house sounds fancy but it was just a shack in Jackson, New Jersey. When I was real little we could pump water out of the well and go inside the old out house. [look out for the hornets] We could pick blueberries too that grew naturally out back. Pappa bought the land for less then a hundred dollars during prohibition so he and his pals had a place to hang out and drink a little.

I come from good stock and I miss them very much.