Dedicated to Uncle Richard

This is a picture of all NINE of my crazy aunts and uncles. My grandmother obviously was getting busy for most of her life. (Although when she was asked how she could have possibly had nine kids, she said she was asleep every time! Ha.)
Anyways, we are lucky enough to have all nine of them still with us. Although there are constant spats and debacles amongst the nine Vassallo siblings, it doesn't make our family any less amazing! I learned yesterday that my Uncle Richard had a stroke and is now in the hospital unresponsive. The doctors are currently running tests to see if there is any brain activity...and I guess they will go from there. It is a gut wrenching feeling thinking that another picture like this will never be taken again. My Uncle Richard is the only one out of his siblings that does not live in Western Massachusetts. He moved to the Cape many years ago. He is a Quahogs fisherman. He always cooked up this yummy quahog appetizer. Anytime we visited him in Chatham, he would send us home with a frozen bag of them. The Cape is exactly where he belongs.
Growing up, I remember him as a fisherman. I knew from a very young age that he loved to go fishing and would often set out on fishing adventures to various ponds and bodies of water. One Christmas, my parents got him his fishing license as his big Santa Christmas Eve gift. He begged me to tell him what it was months before Christmas. He was so persuasive and I was so excited about the present that my little mouth just couldn't keep the secret! I remember him being thrilled with the gift and me begging him not to tell anyone I told him.He was a sneaky Uncle!
One fall day, Uncle Richard even took me fishing! The week leading up to the outing, I set aside different items of clothing that was fisherman like to impress him. I remember I wore thermal underwear, jeans and a plaid button up shirt. Exactly like him. We went out onto a pond. We both set up our fishing poles and we met my Uncle Robbie and cousin Tommy there! We were out there for an hour and no one had caught anything. All of a sudden my little red fishing pole started to bend, my pole had caught something. My Uncle Richard went running over to it and helped me reel in the ONLY catch of the day. It was a cat fish! (Although in fisherman terms, I believe this is not a great catch! He never lead onto that though.) My Uncle Richard gave me all the credit for catching the fish and was boasting about it for the rest of the day about what a fantastic fisherman I was. I put the cat fish in a 10 gallon bucket in the back of my Uncles truck to take it home. My Uncle put it in my kiddie pool in my backyard. I kept the cat fish as my pet! Needless to say, My Uncle Richard no matter the challenges and struggles he has faced in his life is a good man.He has had a lot of difficulties and obstacles to face. He has not always made the right choices in life. But I will always remember him as the fun loving, big hearted man that he is. He always makes me feel like the Queen of the world. I just wanted to pay some tribute to him in his time of need. I pray the next time I see him that I can make him feel like the King of the world. He has a lot of life left to live.
xox