“MY DAD”
………………….My Dad’s name was Vincenzo Dell’Olio…….which translates to Vincent. Everyone called him James, but his friends called him “JIMMY”. He had beautiful black hair and huge dark eyes…..a handsome boy who grew to be a handsome man. I inherited his big eyes…. He was the oldest of seven children, two boys and five girls…..My parents knew each other their whole lives, and my father was always smitten with this red haired beauty, but it took her longer to come around. They married when they were both 26-27, which was considered late at the time. All of my Mom’s girlfriends held out from marriage too…..They were having too good a time….When one married they all married within two years….They fell like dominos……My Mom and Dad started their family after two years of marriage…..First came my brother Mauro, named after my father’s father….then my brother John, named after my mother’s father. My mother had another pregnancy after John……a little girl, who they named Grace, but she was stillborn……I came a few years later so there is a five year gap between John and myself, and seven years between Mauro and me….I was named after my father’s only brother, Louis…..My mother wanted to name me James after my father…but my grandfather insisted I be named after my father’s only brother….so Louis it is…..I would have prefer being James……The bottom row of pictures from the left are of my Mom, Dad, Mauro and the newborn John…..then Mauro’s high school graduation……my Mom and Dad and me, the geek, on a summer vacation in the mountains. I hated going there, because I had very bad allergies, and it wasn’t fun for me……The last picture is my Mom and Dad, Mauro and an older John……I still wasn’t around yet!
