It was hard to wake the bambini, as we were all up to midnight last night...well, Cody and I were up until after 1...but we managed to make it to 9 a.m. Mass and then get over to Viro's, where Angie, her daughters and their kids, plus Sandy, Jack and all of us filled up the outside patio that they had set up for us. Yes, outside and it was an incredible, 70 degree morning. Christina and Vito Jr. made us all awesome omelets and we all went up to fill our plates multiple times, ending with the mini eclairs they put out!! Rosa and Vito called while we were there from Sicily, saying they were having a great time - Vito Jr. is doing a great job with the bakery while they are away (and enjoying driving their Mercedes, too! 'I'm cleaning it for them' he told me).
When we were too full to eat another bite, we lazily pulled out and headed for the Desert Museum. We had taken Kim there in October, before she had gotten ill. I know I've gone over this, but this was Kim's favorite place in Tucson. We've been members since 1994 and I can't even guess how many times we've roamed the grounds - kids too - and never got tired of it.
Today, our old friend Yolanda, took care of renewing our membership and getting the entire Williams crew in...free! 'You must be related to Andrea', Angie quipped. Now, we've known Yolanda for nearly 18 years. She has worked at the Desert Museum for 9 and worked at Old Tucson for 11. Today, was the first we've seen her since Kimmy passed - we've spoken on the phone, but had not made it out there. Yolanda remembered so many positive things about Kimmy (what a surprise) - how she brightened her day, all of the kind questions she would ask Yolanda about her kids and her grandkids, how brilliant Kimmy's smile was, and she'd always take time to remark what a great job Yolanda was doing, or how pretty her blouse was, etc, etc. Yolanda told Autumn just how much she looked like Kim and I told Yolanda how Autumn had become our glue, holding us all together, just like Kimmy used to...This conversation took some time and the kids were ready to run!! Hitting the reptile house first and then, to the vaunted cave!
It was a great day at the Desert Museum - through out, I told the bambini's about memories I had of Mama and I visiting there and of taking them there over the years...we love the late Saturday nights they have during the summer, with lots of activities for the kids. Kimmy's favorite were the animal shows they would do in their new indoor ampitheater. We made it out there at least three times this past summer.
On the way home, we stopped for some awesome raspados (shaved ice) at a little mom and pop joint on Grande and Congress (Kimmy would have LOVED this place). They put real fruit on top - it was so good.
Janene took Tonio home with her and took the kids to the park to burn off their infinite supply of energy.
The Smock's, Belin and Sean, had invited me to a dinner with MLS team Sporting KC at the Viscount Suites. It was fun and I met some players, the coaches, a lady who wants to teach me yoga ('not gonna do it' goes through my head in my best Dana Carvey imitation), ate some great Mexican food (veggies: green chilies in the tamale pie, lettuce and tomatoes I put on top of the chimichangas - I reported back to Angie when I got home) and a live jazz band played. It was a good time and gave me a great deal of confidence, in terms of being in crowds again. Kim never did well in crowds - I loved large concerts (Pink Floyd attendance: 104,000 at the Vet), sporting events, parties, etc...but have had Kim like trouble recently...Belin and Sean helped me through that tonight, introducing me to Michelle, the pirate - who worked the soccer games with an eye patch, due to injury, talked with Jay and Melinda Zucker, who own the Tucson Toros, councilman Paul Cunningham, who believes he can bring an MLS team to Tucson -that's be nice, but I can make a long, short list of other sports and teams that have come and gone through here, spoke with the coach of FC Tucson, Rick Schantz - what a cohesive unit he put on the field! Rick told me that Friday night was the first time the team ever played together - I told him that was hard to believe...also found out the crowd totaled 10,700 at Hi Corbett Field on Saturday night for the games - this is a field record!!! The next largest crowd was for one of the July 4th fireworks display that brought in 9,200...maybe Paul Cunningham CAN bring MLS to Tucson...oh, but I hate to get too excited...
And so it goes...tonight, as we wished Mama a good night, the bambini remarked about what a fun weekend they had, as they pointed out the Big Dipper, wishing Mama a good night and thanking her for the delightful weather...
"We will not worry about tomorrow, but will live the present moment intensely, with complete trust in God."
- Mother Teresa
Love,
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment