Nunni

My Dad's Mom, who went by more names than a 1930s bankrobber passed away on Monday. We called her Nunni, which is a variant of "grandmother" in Italian. She was 93 years old. She did, however, know that Peanut was on his way, having seen all of the ultrasound pictures. She also chatted with Bianca and I about it at Christmas.

There are many things that Peanut will not get to experience that are classic "Nunni" things. First, he will never have the pleasure of walking into Nunni's house to a hot bowl of Pastina and a generous helping of Parmesan cheese. He won't know the joy of having Nunni telling him that just as he is growing she is shrinking. He will also not know the frustratingly simple (and usually correct) answers that Nunni had for seemingly intractable moral dilemmas.

One thing I would love Peanut to have is Nunni's survival instinct and adaptibility. Her family evaded a sweeping plague of tuberculosis in Italy to arrive in America just in time for the Great Depression. Nunni's mom died when Nunni was five and her father was a coal miner, a staggeringly dangerous job. She survived the Depression acquiring habits that would be with her for life: reusing tea bags, eating raw bacon (THAT is tough), and never, ever wasting food.

But more than her survivor instinct I hope that Peanut get's Nunni's sense of adventure. After her husband was ravaged by diabetes and passed away, Nunni continued on. She went to Rome to see the Pope. She went on vacations, visited her children and grandchildren. Even after she moved to Ohio because of a bad slip and fall she still had a zeal for life, as is evidenced by the picture above, which was taken at her first appearance at Monica's famous Christmas Cookie Bakeoff. She thought I looked hilarious with the hat on and offered to pose for the camera. That is a bit of humor that few then 91 year olds can match. Her life was one of constant exploration and adventure. After 93 years of living her life can be summed up by a credo we should all live by:

ADVENTURE IS OUT THERE.

(Yes I know I stole that from Up).

PS: The Pittsburgh Sculimbrenes would like to call Peanut Horseshoe Meatloaf Sculimbrene. THAT is definitely in the running folks.