Throwback Thursday - The Notebooks

To clear up some confusion, the Notebook passages posted on Throwback Thursday were written by my father and found by me after he passed away. They were his attempt to tell the family history. He was in his late 80s or early 90s when he wrote them. Today's chapter:

My mother's father, Euplio, came to America and he opened up a restaurant. All the paisani went to eat but did not pay for their meals. He closed his shop and went back to Italy to his job as a postmaster.

My mother, your grandmother, was born in Grottaminarda, and I remember when I was still little that she was one happy woman. She sang while she cleaned house and in Summer the neighbors would ask her to sing a song. She had  beautiful voice.

My early impression were that I had a toy two wheel cart and ran up and down over the piazza [ed: back porch/deck on a triple decker house] and banged in on the door. She [ed his mother] would ask me to stop. I never remember her hitting me or my brothers and sisters. No matter what.

At an early age, I had a girl playmate she was the landlord's baby and we played in the yard. She lived on the first floor and we on the third floor. In a four room flat and share the bathroom with the other tenants. Called a cold water flat. I don't remember my brother Mario's, Olga and Emma's birth. They were just there.

I remember playing with my playmate. She had a pink dress her hair was done nicely. She shared her candy with me, while I just stood on the garden side of the of plants and swung myself on the gate.

I also remember when my playmate died. My father told my mother to dress me with the new pair of trousers he made for me. She didn't want me to go down. He said it was alright. Not to worry. She didn't want me to be acquainted with death so soon. Anyway she did dress and I went downstair and walked into the parlor. In those days wakes were held in the homes.

When her mother saw me she said "Joe you lost a friend." I was able to look up and it looked like she was asleep to me. After a while I was sent upstairs.

Many years later at my sister Olga's house. Her brother in law came to visit. He lived around the corner. He married Uncle Tony's [ed Olga's husband] sister, Lillian. I forgot who else was there. The conversation was about the Massimino brothers and sisters. He rattled them off one by one as to what they were up to. The parents had deceased. When he was through, I said you hand another sister who died. He said yes and stopped for a second or two. Then he said you remember that? I said yes and he described the little sister in the casket. He then said you were 3 years old..

[ed: out of curiosity I went to look up the 1920 census to see if I could find this family. Dad was 1 year old. There was a 1 year old daughter listed as Armenia. That must have been Dad's little playmate.]