Y’all know by now that I do not consider myself a religious person, and then I always add that I am a spiritual person. And I also inserted a little southern slang right there, did it hit you? My cousin, who was born on Staten Island, like me, and just a few years back moved down south… has begun the southern speak. Not that there’s anything wrong with that!… but it takes some adjusting for those of us from New Yawk who still pahk the cah by the watuh.
Actually I stopped pahking the cah by the watuh a long time ago, because I got tired of sounding like a thug.
But I’m getting away from the story…. So, I consider myself a spiritual person and what does that mean exactly? For me it means I believe in doing right by others, being kind, having compassion, knowing that I don’t know exactly why and how we are all here today as we are. The science makes sense to me, and yet there is the essence of what make people PEOPLE, and I can’t deny that the mystery intrigues me and the idea that there is something left of us after our bodies have failed makes some sense to me too. Heaven? I don’t know… would be awesome, though, wouldn’t it.
Every now and then a little something happens that makes me think. Last week there was a sad passing of an old friend of ours. I spoke of Louie HERE. Louie was 79 years young, had just come in from picking watermelons and having loaded them into his truck… walked over to the side of his garden, sat down probably not feeling well…. and passed away. Just like that. He seemed fit and healthy enough to have lasted another 10-15 years at least, so it took us all by surprise.
Mike and I went to visit with his wife and children the night after his passing, before all the proceedings. We talked of his love for his garden, his tenacity and temper, shared tears with his wife, son and daughter who loved him dearly. We walked out into his beloved garden, still lush with tomatoes heavy on the vine. Louie would have been out there picking them if he were still among us. Sad to see all the hard work he had just put into it, and the thought that he wouldn’t be around to harvest the fruits of his labor, not this time.
When it came time to leave, Mike and I hopped in the truck and started to pull away from Louies house and garden. I got a text from my daughter telling me of Robin Williams death. I responded with an OMG – but when I looked down at my phone again it said MING instead.
Stupid auto correct text typo, right?
Except that was Louies famous word, so frequent that it became a joke among us over the years when referring to him or his antics. I’m not sure what it means in Italian.. maybe something really obnoxious. But for Louie it was the word he used when he was aggravated, frustrated or surprised.. it was his OMG.
(after posting this I looked it up. What Louie was saying is actually spelled a little differently if you’re being grammatically correct- Mingya – is Italian slang. It is used for just about anything, but the literal meaning referrs to men’s genetalia. Substitute for “Holy Shit!” “Damn!” “Come on!” ) To you and I, hearing Louie say it, it would sound just like MING.
Message from the beyond on an Iphone from Louie? I don’t know… has anyone heard from Steve Jobs lately?…. but I do know he would have been just as surprised as we were to find himself – passed-. I’m thinking that’s exactly what he would say.
