REMINISCING: THE EARLY YEARS, PART 1

REMINISCING: THE EARLY YEARS

PART 1

The world has changed much since I was a kid. 

 I often think about growing up in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Brother, Sister, and I grew up in Pittston, Pennsylvania in the North-Eastern part of the state.

 It was a time of innocence and simplicity for us children. My siblings and I spent most of our time with family. All of our grandparents emigrated from Sicily in the early 1900s. Our maternal grandparents lived two streets away and owned a Mom and Pop grocery store attached to their house.  We spent many happy hours there. We were always welcomed with big hugs and offers of food. Our grandparents owned one of the first TV sets ever and we would sit and watch The Mickey Mouse Club. Sheer bliss! Life was never better!

All of Mama’s siblings moved away after World War ll. Four settled in Virginia. The remaining two moved to different areas in Maryland. Thus, we had sole ownership of our Grandma and Grandpa Guiliano until the Capitano Boys and Uncle Charlie’s Little Nina came to visit from out of town. Little Nina (We still call her that.) was born after my sister, Nina. We eagerly awaited visits from our cousins.

As a sidebar: The remainder of the grandchildren ended up being born right around the time my older son made his appearance in the family. 

Almost every Sunday after Mass, my siblings and I would eagerly jump into the back seat of our old green Studebaker. It totally looked like a rocket ship. With Mama in the front passenger seat, Dad drove along the scenic route wending our way along the Susquehanna River. We didn’t go over the river and through the woods. But to Grandfather De Angelo’s Farm we did go.  We had scads of Aunts and Uncles. My dad had 17 siblings comprised of brothers, a sister, half brothers and sisters, and step brothers and sisters. The farmhouse burst at the seams when everybody was there. 

After dutifully greeting and kissing all the adults, we young-uns’ would scoot out the door with our cousins and immediately hightail it to the woods.  We and Uncle Paul’s kids were the first grandchildren of my grandfather and his first wife, Margherita. Therefore, we were the oldest of all. Down in the woods, we became a tribe of Native American Indians.  Each had a role to play.  Whole scenarios were created to act out. Talk about using our imaginations. We had a blast!

Bounding over meandering streams, we would follow our cousin Anthony who was Chief because he was the eldest. My brother, Anthony, was next in line. Guess he was the Vice Chief. The younger males came next followed by… the female cousins. As  far as our understanding went at the time, equality for women wasn’t.

Mid afternoon found us climbing fruit trees in the orchard and picking apples, pears, or peaches for snacks. Sometimes, we would resort to being hooligans and throw rotten fruit at each.

Next, we ventured into the barn. Running around  the top section of the barn, jumping into haystacks and throwing hay at each other seemed like a diverting way to have fun.  Afterwards, the others would go into the lower barn to watch the cows being milked. I, on the other hand, stayed away for obvious reasons. 

I don’t ever remember any altercations. We always got along well with our cousins. How awesome is that?

After a long, exhausting, but fruitful day, it was time to go home. We would stagger into the car, too tired to talk. We wanted to go to bed as soon as we got into the house. However, Mama had other plans for us. She made sure we were scrubbed clean and brushed our teeth before crawling into our beds. Mama would listen to our prayers, give each of us a hug, a squeeze, and a big kiss. We were sound asleep before the room went dark. Ah, the end of a perfect day!

Uncle Paul's kids and us.

NOT the Studebaker.

Live simply.

Speak softly.

Love unconditionally.