The Fake Wake

I have a great Italian Family. We LOVE to laugh. When my grandmother was alive, we all gathered at her Brooklyn house on Sundays to be together. There was no dishwasher or matching plates - there was just plenty of food, drinks and laughter. Us cousins were more like brothers and sisters.

When Grandma died, so did a part of our Sunday tradition. Yes, we saw each other, just not as often. As years went on, it seemed that every year one of us got married - and we all got to see each other again. A couple of us even hosted the family for different occasions. After a while, we started to only see each other at funerals.

Well, we had the opportunity to gather once again a week ago to pay tribute to our dear uncle, Zi Vidooch. He was a favorite uncle to many of us. We all had notice of his impending demise and made a date to meet at a fabulous restaurant in Brooklyn and share some great memories of him. We also learned of some secrets (he had been carrying on an affair with a married woman for years!!!) There were 12 of us who traveled from New Jersey and Eastern Long Island, just to share a meal and loving thoughts. It was so nice to see how everyone did something nice in honor of Zi:

Thank you, Kathy: You brought prayer cards for all of us and helped to eternal-ize his memory.

Thank you, Lou: You brought a treasured photo of all of Zi's sisters in Italy. It was good to see them all.

Thank you, Justina: You took all the photos that night and posted them on facebook as a lasting tribute to Zi.

Thank you, Joan: for "blowing Zi" a final kiss good-by for all of us to witness. (Seriously, Joan? I am not sure how you had the nerve to show up after cheating on Frank all these years with Zi!)

and most of all - THANK YOU, PAUL!! You were so conscientious to send out emails detailing the final days of Zi's life. You made reservations at the perfect restaurant. You brought proof positive of Joan's affair with Zi - as they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words". And most importantly, you brought Zi's ashes so we could all witness Joan's final good-bye to her beloved!

I am so happy to be part of a family who will go to so much trouble as to host a "fake wake" just so we could all be together. I am also thrilled that all of our children are reaching the "marriage" age and we will once again have the opportunity to see eachother for happy occasions.