posted by Quan on Tuesday 2008 Jun 03 at 13:21
Richard Masiello, my father-in-law, I called him "Dad".
The first time I met him was the Christmas of 2004, right after I moved from China to here. I was excited and nervous to meet him and all of Tony's family. Tony had told me a lot of his stories at that point. As soon as his car pulled into the drive way. Tony and I ran out of the door to welcome him ( We had a party at my Mother-in-law’s old house ). He had a big smile on his face, and he hugged me in his arms so tight that I felt like I would sink into his tummy. I called him "Dad" since that moment, and I felt in love with this big Italian guy right away.
When he speaks, I feel like I am watching the movies. His italian accent is absolutely beautiful. My dad and I are both big "Godfather" fans and we have watched this movie together so many times. And now, there was a person who talked like that in the real life. It is so cool. It is even more cool that he is my father-in-law. I always tell Tony that I can listen to Dad talking all day long. Now when I think of him, I can still hear his voice.
We had not been visiting him a lot because we are living in MA. We never tried hard enough to visit him because we believed that he will be around for a very long time. There was always "the next time". --- Next time I will cook ribs for him when we visit....
Almost every time we visited him, he would bring us to these very expensive restaurants, even if just for the lunch. I always told Tony that I would like to pay for it (especially after I had a job) . Tony always told me that he will be mad about it. ---- What a big Daddy!
He loved to serve me drinks (Actually, not just him, a lot of Tony's family love to serve me drinks - champagne, wine, beer, gin and tonic.... ). I knew he loved to serve me a drink, so that I always told him champagne or wine. Then he gave me that big smile and handed me the drink.
There was one time he roasted the jalapeno peppers for us with our chicken marsala and pasta. That was yummy....I had six roasted peppers that night, I remember when I asked him, are they spicy?... he picked up one pepper, and threw the whole thing in his month, and looked at me said "NOT HOT AT ALL". --- I knew they were hot, because my stomach was burning at that time.
He still makes the best pasta. Tony.... what can I say? You are catching up.... but his pasta is still the best so far. I always ate a lot when he cooked for us. I always felt that I would not need to eat for a week after that.
Sometimes when he asked me what do I want to drink, he would touch my hair like I am a little girl. Every time, when he kissed my cheek, he will hold my face with his hands like I am a little girl. The last time I saw him (May 10th), right before we walked out of his house to go to Mario's for lunch, he used his thumbs to squeeze my face like I am a little girl.
I wished Tony married me when I was 18, so that I would have more time to be part of the family. I was 120 lbs at that time, so I am not sure if Tony would be interested in me though.
At last year's Christmas party at his house, I drank a little too much, and I sat on his chair (near the fireplace) while he was in the kitchen, when he came to the living room, I got up and tried to let him sit on his chair (I know that is the only chair will make his back and leg feel a little better), but he touched my hair and told me to sit down, and he went to sit on the couch).
There were many more details and I will remember all of them, and I will tell my children about him, and I will also tell my son (if I could have a son) that if his grandpa was still alive, he will call him "Wooden Head" ....
Dear Dad, I love you so much and I will miss you forever!
