Coming Home

I suppose you could say that this was the beginning.  I'm not sure when this photo was taken, but the little baby in the picture I think may have been my grandfather's cousin.  I'm a bit unclear on all of the lineage, but I know that this was the marriage that joined the Prestigiacomo and Posante families into one extended family.  Now many many years later we came to celebrate an extraordinary group of immigrants and their many many offspring.  It was a great day, perfect weather and many cousins whose names I knew but whose faces were pretty much a blur in my memory....many from 40+ years ago. 

What I learned today is what I've missed by not knowing them all of these years while I've been galavanting around making new friends, building my own "family"  and seeing the world.  My 40+ years away from here have been wonderful and wouldn't trade them for anything, but today made me wonder what I missed being away from family.

I have to admit, I could not keep these guys straight.  

What a madcap group.  Mom and Dad said "You ought to have known their parents!"  Dad always loved being with his cousins.












My dad represented the last of his generation, I believe.  At 90 he could still remember the cousins' names and tell some old jokes.  It was great to see the cousins'  admiration for him. Made me proud.



We have an opera singer in the family.  That was quite a surprise.  Now I've got to go to an opera and see if I'll like it.  I never thought I would, but hey, if you are Italian I think you have to love opera.