Pass The Meatballs

“I’d rather get a colonoscopy than go to my high school reunion.” My great Uncle Richard was always saying stuff like this. He once got passed the giant bowl of meatballs New Year’s Day and rather than take two and pass the bowl like a normal person, he flipped two onto my plate and put the bowl right on his, grabbed a fork, winked at me, and started digging in. I was maybe 11 at the time and both speechless and impressed. Uncle Richard ran the scrambler at the Riverside amusement park in Springfield Mass – if you ask me, it was a tough job dealing with all those unruly kids. He used to let us cut the line and sometimes slipped us a quarter for a grape soda. Richard died in his late 60s but struggled with his health for most of his adult life, never really investing in the kinds of things we know you ought to do. But he was pretty happy and warm and kept his life simple – he knew when you were being straight and when you were hiding something and though he struggled to take care of himself, he sure did take care of us kids.