Say What?

"Words form the thread on which we string our experiences." (Aldous Huxley)

As typical New Yorkers, our terrific trio could zing one-liners with the best of them. Some were silly. Some were sassy. And some just made you shake your head.

When Ma wanted to emphasize that she had her shit together she would remind me "I could take your shoes off while you're still walking." How did she learn this skill? Was this something she figured out during the Depression? Could she snatch up my sneakers, too? Why didn't she teach any of us this amazing trick? Hell, it would be a great savings for our shoe divas, Arianne and Nicole.

In his younger years, Poppie's temper ran fairly hot. I know, this may come as a shock to many of you. He was normally so quiet and subdued. When you hit his hot button (or slammed it as was my custom), he would constantly warn me to back off by saying "Keep it up and the two of us are going to tango." Imagine Poppie playing Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman." Hoohah! Years later I was terribly disappointed when he changed it to "tangle." That didn't seem nearly as fun.

One of my favorite things to do was watch TV with Nana---she would translate everything into Italian for me. I guess she was one of the few family members who remembered we spoke English as a Second Language and she didn't want us to miss anything. Of course, whenever the commercials were a bit risque or advertized feminine hygiene products, Nana would vehemently shout "disgrazia" to the announcer. Can you imagine what she would do now. Forget the commercials; the shows would push her to a daily novena.