A Cry for Help

My mom, though wonderful, is not inspiring me to post on Mother's Day. Instead, let's move up (down?) the family tree to Nana, my 85 year old Italian grandmother. Some of you know Nana, and some have even enjoyed her cooking. I shall call you the lucky ones. For my other friends, you'll have to settle for whatever authentic flavor is imparted to my cooking, since I use a lot of utensils I pilfered from her kitchen.

The unfortunate reason that I was able to steal her well-worn culinary implements is, simply, she's not going to get much use out of them anymore. After 10 years of living on her own, the burdens of age have forced her to a nursing home. This is sad, as anyone who has ever visited any building filled with dependent elderly folk can attest. However, it's a gold mine for anyone with a penchant for black humor.

(This may not sound funny at all, but if you knew Nana…)

Visiting a few weeks ago, in her slightly broken english, the family was told repeatedly how much poor Nana dislikes her new home. She asks God, half praying, half scolding, to take her home. And not the home in North Providence, if you catch my drift. To her late husband: "Tommy, why you forget me?" "Nana, do you like the new chair we brought in for you?" "Eh. I'm going to die in that chair anyways." Hilarious! In fact, my mom told me today that Nana was reprimanded by a nurse for too much swearing. "I hate this goddamned place," every day.

I think it's all talk though. I know the truth. She's waiting for Buddy Cianci to get out of jail. She wants to vote for "her Buddy", at least one last time. Happy Mother's Day, Nana!

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 14th, 2006 at 11:23 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.