The fall season was approaching rapidly as well as our first Mite league hockey team hitting the Delaware Valley Hockey League Ice…The Wintersports Royals. Fifteen little 7 and 8 year old brawlers ready to start their illustrious careers as hockey players. It would be the beginning of an eighteen year career for one special, talented, young hockey player named Joey Keenan. A career that he could write “his” own book about. It was also our second Christmas season at the new store on Cottman Avenue. Busy,busy,busy! Everything was coming together and a smooth transition into the selling season was flowing. The team at Belaggio Jewelers was well prepared for the onslaught of merry shoppers and were so well trained at this point. This year should be perfect. I was feeling well too. My platelet and Hemoglobin counts were trending higher and almost to the point of perfection. Lori was settling into her Masters program at Arcadia University and, of course, doing quite well. We had a lot to be thankful for. Unfortunately, bad luck just seems to follow us and the next issue was usually lying in wait.
The snow was coming down at a frenetic pace. Heavy flakes piling up all over the Bronx, NY. Lori relocated to Philadelphia from her hometown, the Bronx, in New York City. A tight knit neighborhood of Italian immigrants and families in a section called Morris Park is where she grew up. When you went food shopping you hit several stores along the way. The bread store, the bakery, the butcher shop, the cheese shop and the pasta store. A time capsule of sorts. The first time that I met Lor’s dad I was greeted with a huge spread of italian lunch meats, loaves of Italian bread and cheeses, etc. Come Eat!! You’re hungry right?!. He was a very humble man with a heavy Italian accent. A retired master of Butchery whom after owning butcher shops in the city assumed a 20 year career at the prestigious CIA, the Culinary Institute of America where many of the greatest chefs of all time are developed. Italo Peduzzi was a wonderful man who loved his family and adored his grandchildren. They called him “Nonno”.
The snow fell harder and became deeper as it piled upon the pavement. It tended to do that in mid December in New York. Nonno had decided at the time to hang some Christmas ornaments along the balcony fencing on their front porch above the driveway underneath. The ladder he was using was set at the bottom of the snow covered driveway, protruding up to the edge of the porch railing, set in the snow at a precarious angle. Unfortunately, the ladder slipped beneath him on the snowy pavement. Nonno fell about seven feet down and landed on his head. He was out cold and bleeding from his head. Lucky for him, a Resident doctor working at nearby Jacoby Hospital was walking to work, found him, and dialed 911. He was rushed to the ER in grave condition.
We got the call in Philadelphia about Nonno’s situation quickly and Lor was on her way to the Bronx. Nonno was in very serious condition with a head injury and it was touch and go for a while. His injury left him partially disabled for a time and the family pulled together to try to make him whole again. His memory had been affected but his face would light up like the sun when his grandkids came to visit. Another tough Holiday season for all again this year. Nonno went through some tough times over the next few months and was never able to recuperate fully. Lori spent many weekends in New York faithfully attending to her father’s needs with her family and returning to go to school and take care of us during the week. We could only hope that his condition would improve.
Next Up: Miracles and Mixed Emotions