nature-nurture 6.21.07

Family is a funny thing. Not long ago, I went up to uber-suburbia to visit brother, wife (R2D2), and their young sprig, a.k.a. the cutest baby boy ever. We ordered chinese one night and decided to remedy the glaring cinematic gap that was my failure to see "40 Year-Old Virgin." The food came and we fussed around with cartons and plates, and R2D2 said, "Do you want to watch the movie now?" I said, "Let's wait 'till after we eat," and she and brother looked at eachother. "That's exactly what he always says," she told me. Brother and I chuckled. That's just the way such things are done, right?

Last weekend, my parents, sister, and her husband enjoyed an excellent Greek dinner and probed deeper into our Italiano past. More on that later. To give our moms equal air-time, we shot a few questions her way so she could wax nostalgic too. We heard a lot of the same stories--grandpa went to Texas, lied about his age and enlisted in the army, etc. That grandpa also had the distinction of living through the depression and had-yes-one pair of shoes for, like, 5 years. He had to cut out cardboard inserts as their soles wore away. Almost on cue, my sister I jinxily recited the creedo that comes from that story, "Don't cheat your feet." Everyone laughed. That's just what they say, right?