Gestures
Thoughts of Dad
By Bob Jr.
Dad was born in 1925 and lived through the fasted technological advancement period in human history. To give you perspective, when dad was born the television wouldn’t be invented for another 2 years. Back then the family entertainment was gathering around the radio and listening to news, vaudeville or radio opera. Of course, that was only after the garden was hoed, animals fed and chores done. When he was born the internet wouldn’t be invented for another 40 years… and most of you won’t remember but a time without smart phones, but the cell phone wouldn’t exist for another 60 years.
Now a days we hop on a plane and zip across country in a couple of hours, but back then aviation was in its infancy and the airplanes of the day were mostly bi-wing props and made out of wood and canvas and pale in comparison to the high-speed jets of today. Also, you might call it unfortunate, but Black Friday and the Great Depression started when dad was 4 years old. In hindsight this was not a liability, but rather what forged him in to the strong, goal-oriented man he was to become. Dad is the last of 8 brothers and sisters that were a hard-working close knit Italian family, who could live off the land and were very self-sufficient. When dad was a young lad, he and Sam Angotti used to sell newspapers on High street for a penny each. He would bring home “most” of the money he earned to give to his mother… I say most because dad loves chocolate.
When dad was in his twenties Big Bands ruled the day. In his last months and days, we would play big band or opera play on the iPod radio. Often a song would come on and he would look on the ipod to see who was singing and he surprisingly he knew almost all of them. Compare that to what you listened in your teens or twenty’s?
Three of my favorite anecdotes that dad told:
-KITTY-
Being the youngest child, when dad was little he could be found in the garden watching his older siblings tend to it. Naturally dad would wonder and explore along the outskirts. One-time dad wondered over to some nearby trees and tall grass and found a kitten. He just had to pick it up and run to ask his mother to see if he could keep it. Upon arriving at the back door of the house he yelled for his mom to look at the kitty and said “can I keep him” at which time he became confused by the horrified look on his mom’s face as she yelled “GET THAT THING OUT OF HERE”!
Dad didn’t bring home a kitten… he had brought home a baby skunk!!!
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-BROOMARANG-
It goes without saying that with a large family there could be a lot of chores to do which brings me to this next ditty. One day when dad was in his tweens part of his chores was to hoe his section of the garden… and the garden wasn’t small. He had been at it for about half an hour when his friends came down the street yelling for him to grab his baseball glove and come play ball. His mom saw and said no, not until you finish… not exactly in those words, but you get the idea. Needless to say, he tried to “speed” hoe, but under his mother’s watchful eye this didn’t go over well. Off in the distance he could see the boys walking to play ball and he couldn’t take it anymore. He said mom, I’ll hoe the garden when I get back and started to run full gate towards his compadres. It was then Nana grabbed the closest thing which just happened to be a broom, flung it boomerang style and tripped dad to the ground. By the time he was picking himself up, nana was already standing over him with the hoe and told him… I said you can’t go until you’re done…
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-TINIAN-
During WWII dad had enlisted in the Army Air Corps. The DeAntonis family had 4 brothers fighting in the war, and one (Uncle Art) died in the hedge row near St. Lo France. Dad’s first duty station was on Tinian island which was within bomber strike range of Japan. After couple of months on the island dad noticed a strange hangar with a large lower pit and saw a plane named the Enola Gay.
Bonus points: Q: Can anyone tell me what is the Enola Gay?
A couple of months later the Enola Gay would be instrumental in bring the war with Japan to an end by dropping the first atomic bomb. Ok, now back to the story. It was announced that a Typhoon was on the way and dad decided to take matters into his own hands. This is where nana’s flying broom story segues into this story. His friends again wanted dad to come play softball. Dad said you better secure your tent, a Typhoon is on its way. The friends seemed unimpressed a went on to play ball. Dad in turn went to find additional tent stakes and guy wires to double down his tent. Fast forward to later on that night. While dad was sleeping, he was awoken by rushing wind and thought he heard hushed voices but couldn’t see anything because the power was out. He nodded back to sleep, but was woken up an hour later with loud talking and his tent full to capacity with soldiers. He asked them “what are you all doing in my tent” they replied. Bob, your tent is the only one that is standing!!!
In closing:
Since retiring from the Navy I’ve been extremely lucky to be able to spend time with Dad and make up for lost time. For the past nine years Dad and I have been able to play golf a couple of times a week and go to many sporting events. When I was young Dad would try to pass on some of his wisdom and say “you think I’m stupid now, but when you get older you’ll change your mind,” I would like to say to the youngsters, (especially the ones that their parents are stupid or embarrassing) it is 100% true and I wish you could understand and agree, but unfortunately you’ll need to live your life before you’ll know… your parents are geniuses.
I miss you!
Your loving son,
Bobby