Speaking of youth.....

A memory from long ago... a gift from a real gentleman.

When I was young... I had a friend, a best friend... Guido.

Gui's family welcomed me like another son, to my eye. Small family dinners at their home called for forty or fifty seats.... but I ate many, many meals at their table with only a few seats. Mom, Dad, Gui, his brother, and I. Grandma would not sit at the table... she fussed, cooked.... spoke kind words in Italian.... and smiled a smile of peace upon the world.

Grandmas chicken cutlets...... Oh my..... ambrosia......
Gui's dad made a fettuccine that opened my eyes to what food should taste like.
His mom..... one of the sweetest women in the world.... would make a graham cracker pudding cake, simply because I would be in the house long enough for it to set. She'd bring me the pan, with a fork...... :) An angel....

One Saturday... Guido's Dad took him, his brother, and I out for an evening.
We ate at the finest restaurant I had ever seen.... down in Philly.... then to the Forrest theater. He had gotten us tickets to Fiddler on the Roof with Zero Mostel.
I had never been to a live stage show... my first........ and to this day the one I measure all others by.

I have never forgotten the kindness that family showed me, the lessons his father taught me as if I was his own kin.... Days at the hunting cabin.... Parties at the house.... driving Guido here and there.... I miss those days.....