You look back at that small handful of years when you were a kid and one thing often stands out: everything seemed bigger, in your mind's eye anyway. The school you went to was huge. It was a loooong walk there. The teachers were taller, or at least more scary (I went to Catholic school... I pick scary). Your front porch was enormous, as were the thunderstorms it protected you from.
The truth is that that long view holds up some sort of mental magnifying glass. If you go back and visit your home town, you'll find that things are much smaller and closer together than you remember. Walk from your old house to your school's front steps and you'll be amazed to discover just how small your universe was back then.
This idea works for personalities as well.
When I was a little kid, me and my folks lived in the second floor apartment of my godfather Sal's house. My godfather, his wife, and a slew of my cousins. (Okay, it wasn't really a slew, but they made enough noise for a slew... so there it is.) The slew consisted of Larry the musical/rock starish guy, Cathy the lone girl - who put up with all of us idiot guys - Tommy the quiet fishing enthusiast, and Jeff, my partner in crime. It was a fun house. Excepting the occasional fish dinner (did fish ever smell good in the 1960s?), it always smelled great, too: it seemed that Sal's wife Dolores always had a pot of sauce on. To this day, when I start a batch of marinara, I think of 16 Akron Street.
Sal had a larger than life personality. Very Italian. Very authoritative. He had that "You kids keep quiet and stay off the lawn!" sort of persona. I have to say, I was a little afraid of him... even if he did occasionally try to embarrass all of us by busting out into his rendition of "That's Amore." (I've gone back and forth about this. Did that really happen? It must have, because I don't know anybody else who would have sung it!)
Article comments
1 - A.L. Harper
This is a beautiful and touching article Mark. It made me cry. Thank you.
2 - Connie Phillips
Mark, What a beautiful tribute to some one who sounds like an he was an incredible man. I'm sorry for your loss.
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
I was just a bit disappointed by the article, Mark. I thought I was going to get a link to Dean Martin singing Amore.
But your article was especially well written and made me think of how my sons must see the world around them. They were less than nipple high when we moved here in 2001, having to make the change from a three-story ten room house in Saint Paul to a two room apartment in an absorption center in southern Jerusalem. We live in a house again, but nothing like the cinderblock structure we sold in 2001. Now they are taller than both of us (not really that great of an accomplishment - neither of us are tall).
Just like you miss your godfather, my boys miss their grandfather, who used to come over each weekend for coffee and cake, bringing jokes, riddles and his punny sense of humor. And the world must see a lot smaller to them now then it did then; I know I probably seem smaller now.
The oldest one has been rejected for the IDF - the younger one just got his first notice from them....
Enjoy the link. May your godfather rest in peace.
Shabbat Shalom,
Reuven
4 - Pico
Ahh, the images this conjures up. ;&)
RIP, Sal.
5 - jp
you did a terrific job mark
6 - Mat Brewster
That was nice Mark. RIP Sal.
7 - Mary K. Williams
I'm sorry I missed this when you first wrote it. Very nice.