Quick Post Before 2024

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is an odd one. I never seem to know what day it is.

I plan on looking back at 2023 blog in the coming days, but wanted to take a quick moment to thank you. I never imagined that anyone would find the things I write about interesting.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for your likes and comments. Thanks for your friendship and your encouragement throughout the year (s). It truly means a lot to me and my family.

To those who have asked me to write pieces for your blog – thank you. I really enjoy the opportunity to write for you. Perhaps there is something you might want to write that would be something I can feature here? Let me know. We’ll discuss.

With just about an hour before 2024 makes an appearance, I already know that I will be sleeping. So as 2023 wraps up, I want to wish you and yours a very happy and blessed New Year. May it be memorable and full of happiness.

Happy New Year!

As we welcome 2023, let me pause to thank each of you for reading my blog. Since I started this blog, I have come to know many of you as friends.

For those of you who have followed from the beginning, you’ve been with me through good and bad times. Your kind words of support through it all will never be forgotten.

I never anticipated having even 50 followers, so the fact that I have like 6 tines that baffles me. My silly ramblings, my musical opinions, my reading and television favorites, and constant bragging about my wonderful wife and family are things that YOU actually find worth reading. Thank you.

There was a time when I would go out to ring in the new year. It has been a long time since I’ve done that. I joked on Facebook last night that I had “counted down to 9pm” and I was off to bed. Sam and I were up talking for a bit, but we were both asleep by 10:30pm. I slept so soundly that the normal barrage of midnight fireworks didn’t even wake me up.

I woke up this morning to about 15 “Happy New Year” texts, many Facebook comments, and a few Snapchat wishes. It was almost 7 hours into the new year before I woke up.

As I have done in the past, this morning I looked at my yearly stats for my blog. Honestly, I was surprised. The most read blog of the year has consistently been in my top 3 since it was written. I’m not sure why, but I love that it is.

Comedian Red Buttons was a hit at many roasts with his “Never Got A Dinner” bit. The jokes are so dates, but they still make me (and obviously others) laugh. It was my #1 blog. Here it is if you missed it:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2018/02/05/never-got-a-dinner/

The second most read blog was simply a list. As a music guy, I found a list of most “hated” and “overplayed” songs to be interesting. I know many other music folks read the blog, so I posted the list. Here is that blog:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2021/08/05/list-top-50-overplayed-hated-songs-of-all-time/

The most surprising blog to appear in the Top 3 speaks volumes of an amazing man. Just after Christmas, one of my radio mentors passed away. I wrote a small tribute to him and shared it on Facebook. I tagged him in it, which meant any of his friends and family would see it, too.

The fact that this blog is barely a week old and shot past one of my Top 3 Year End staples (A Year Without a Santa Claus), shows just how many people loved Richard D. Now I wish I had spent more time on it. Here is that blog:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2022/12/29/a-voice-silenced-a-friend-lost-a-legend-remembered/

Thank you for reading. I wish you the best as we begin another year. May it be filled with good health, happiness, and blessings.

Trip #52

Today is the 12th anniversary of my 39th birthday.

As much as I’d like to be “Forever 39” like Jack Benny, the truth is that I am officially logged 51 years on the planet. Today begins Trip #52.

People are always asked “What do you want for your birthday?” This blog is my answer (or answers) to that question. These are things you can do for me.

Pay It Forward

Every now and then, someone will pay for my coffee at Tim Hortons. It always feel great to know that someone was kind enough to do that for me. You know what feels better? Doing it for someone else!

Thank A Veteran

It is such a simple thing to do. In the Covid world, shaking hands is frowned upon, but you can still say thank you. You may not think it means much, but it does.

Support a Local Business

This is so important today. The big companies are not struggling as bad. Search out local businesses and support them. Make it a point to brag about them on social media. Spread the word. Your community will thank you for it!

Do Something Nice For Your Neighbor

Bring up their trash cans from the road. Mow their grass. Send them flowers. TALK to them! Put the phone down and do some real socializing.

Look Into Your Child’s Eyes.

I saw this online recently and it really hit home. “Stop what you are doing, sit down, and just look into them. Do that every day and you will change the world.” ~Noel Cocca

Give. Don’t Expect To Get.

This one thing can change the entire world! Everyone expects things today. We are selfish. Be the change – “It is better to give than to receive.” It doesn’t have to be money or materialistic things, either. Give a compliment. Give a smile.

Smile More

When you smile, you instantly uplift others! Plus, smiling can reduce stress and activate the smiles in the people around you. Smiling is infectious. Too often we walk with our faces down or stern, perhaps staring at our phones, oblivious to the people around us. Look up. Smile at people. If you don’t feel like smiling, smile anyway.

Be Thankful

Say “thank you.” You will be amazed at how your attitude changes when you become more thankful and grateful. Thank your friends, family, and God daily.

Say “I Love You”

This is a life mantra of mine. You may never get another chance to tell someone how you feel. Always make sure they know. Make it a goal to tell at least 10 people you love them today. Tomorrow is promised to no one.

Stay Positive

Do whatever you can to avoid negativity and negative people. Find the positives in everything.

Unplug

Spend some time away from your phone, the internet, television, etc. Get out in nature. Sit on your porch and take in the sights and sounds. Read a good book. Read the Bible. Pray. Set some time away from technology and reset!

Write a Letter or Send a Card To Someone

Do it for no reason. You will make their day!

Practice Active Listening

When you are speaking with someone, give them your full attention. Ask how they are and then LISTEN to them!

Get Musical

Sing, hum, dance, make music, celebrate music. Music is one of the things that make us experience life more fully and connect to our innermost creativity. Music is the universal language. Get LOST in a favorite song – really listen to it. Listen for something you may not have heard before.

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Thanks in advance for reading. Now go out and make a difference!!

100

Sometimes I feel like I repeat myself in my blogs. If I do, I apologize. In all honesty, sometimes I forget if I have mentioned something in a previous blog. I have been meaning to hook up with my friend and fellow blogger, Max, to learn how to index the content that I have already published. I guess I should do that sooner than later. So pardon me if I have said this before.

When I started this blog, I did it primarily for me. It was a place for me to (1) write about the things I was dealing with in my life (2) write down memories for my children to look back on and read in the future (3) occasionally rant about things that bothered me and (4) share memories of things that interest me (movies, music, TV, etc…). I first began blogging in the days of My Space. This would have been around 2005-2007. To my knowledge, my My Space page is still in existence in cyber space, but with the dawn of Facebook, I haven’t done anything on it in years! I used to blog on there all the time, the blogs used to pop up on your front page.

Some time ago, My Space removed the blogs from everyone’s page. I contacted them because many of those blogs had personal things I wanted to remember. I blogged often in the months and weeks proceeding my mother’s death. I blogged about the birth of my second son. All of those were gone. They provided me a link to go in and download all of my blogs. All of the comments were gone, but the original content was there. For that, I am glad. Re-reading some of them is emotional – they capture a moment in my past and give me a sense of what I was feeling at that time. Some of those old blogs have been updated and additional thoughts have been added here.

At any rate, during the time I was blogging, I was told by someone I was once close to that “nobody cares about the things you write about”. For whatever reason, I was constantly being told by this person to stop writing. Occasionally, I would write a “note” on Facebook, which was similar to the My Space blogs. These were also met with negative responses and the request was again made to stop, which I eventually did.

Fast forward to almost two years ago, when I started to blog. I had been in therapy trying to sort out things in my life and it was suggested that I keep a journal. I mentioned that I used to blog and my therapist asked why I had stopped. She encouraged me to begin blogging or keeping a journal – and this is it. Blogs have ranged from fun stuff to serious stuff. I began to share links to my blog on Facebook, and many of my friends began following it, and sometimes, even sharing it on their page. Through Word Press, I began to follow other blogs written by people who share my love for music, old movies, and classic TV. Often times, my blogs will inspire someone to write one and vice versa.

All of this brings me to why I am writing this blog. Today, I was informed that this blog now has 100 followers! I am humbled that 100 people would find the topics that I write about worth reading, let alone wanting to be informed every time I write something new! I thank you for reading and I thank you for interacting. If there is every anything you’d like to see this blog explore, I would love to hear it. Writing is often met with what some call “writer’s block” and I often face the “What should I write about today?” dilemma. Feel free to offer suggestions.

There are those who say that bloggers/writers/authors should write everyday, no matter what – even if you are just scribbling a sentence or two. For me, time is an issue. Finding the time is always the challenge. I try to write as often as I can. Sometimes, the stuff I write never makes it here and ends up as a Facebook status. For example, this week marked the anniversary of my grandma’s passing, today is the 117th birthday of the great Larry Fine of the Three Stooges, Sam is starting to feel our baby move, and it’s Homecoming week – all things that I could probably blog about (and probably should). I just have to find the time!

Thanks for following! Thanks for reading!

Capturing Memories of Yesterday

In my last blog, I was ranting about making spaghetti sauce. I hadn’t made it in awhile, and it was long overdue. I was making it because we had friends over Saturday night. Our friend Amy was bringing by the flash drive with the photos she took of Dante’ for senior pictures – session #1. You can read about that emotional day here:

https://nostalgicitalian.com/2019/07/14/emotional-day/

Session #2 will happen as fall arrives, and we’re already mapping out the details of that. I’m especially excited for that session as there will be a few locations that hold very special memories for both Dante’ and me.

Dinner

Amy, her husband Matt, her daughter (and Sam’s Goddaughter) Skyler, and her boyfriend “Po” were our guests for dinner. I worked Friday on the sauce, tweaking a few things here and there. I used that sauce for baked ravioli. I make a big pot of sauce and throw whatever I am not using in jars and freeze it for future use. I made sure to leave an extra jar out, because sometimes those ravioli will “soak up the sauce” in the oven.

Any time I make sauce, I am extra critical of it. I took a leap of faith and tried something I had never done before. There was no going back – this was the sauce that was going in the ravioli! Personally, I could tell the difference in this batch. I pressed the garlic instead of just chopping it up and putting it in (so it tasted less “garlicky”). I also felt that it could have been a little sweeter (maybe not enough wine or sugar).

When every one arrived, I was nervous. The sauce was good – but I was still running through the things I noticed in my mind. I shouldn’t have been nervous at all! They all loved it! Skyler said that she could “drink it with a straw” it was so good. In a Facebook post, Amy said: “As we took the first bite, it was clearly evident that the sauce is the BEST we have all ever tasted!” She went on to write, “Well done, Chef Keith. We could “taste” the passion, heart and soul you poured into our meal. You’ll find us all at the front of the line to purchase that sauce when you bottle it!”

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What an amazing thing to read! I felt like I was reading an review for a 5-star restaurant! I am humbled and thankful that the meal was enjoyed by every one! I made sure to send home a jar with them for future enjoyment (No label. No charge!)

The Pictures

If you took the time to follow the link above, you are aware at how emotional I was the day that the pictures were taken (and I wasn’t even there for the whole day). The weather that day was far from ideal. It was 90 degrees, humidity was high, plenty of sun, and many of the pictures were taken during the hottest part of the day. The fact that Dante’ made it as long as he did was a “win” in itself! It was obvious by the time I arrived for the second half of the session that he was only good for a little while longer.

I was not with them while they snapped pictures by classic cars at a car show. I was neat to see which cars Dante’ chose to pose by. As we looked through the photos together, he rattled off the year, make and model of each car. There were some taken at the park which were very nice. I could tell which pictures were taken later. Dante’ has a habit of messing up his hair, when he gets hot, so there were a couple shots I laughed at and asked him, “were you hot?”

We went to the park right around the corner from our house and snapped a few more pictures. There were some that we took of him standing on this little bridge. He is just kind of lost in thought, and those really stuck with me. He’s always thinking. He asks a lot of questions. He is always looking stuff up on the internet and likes to share the “facts” and “figures” he learns about with others. I’m not sure why those photos in particular stuck out to me.

I could post many shots here, but then again, I don’t want to share them all, so I am going to share just a couple of my favorites.

First, after the park, we came home and the boys gamed a bit. We brought the boys out to the porch and she caught some shots of them just talking. There is a great pic of the two of them clinking their glass and iced tea bottle together like they are making a toast or something. One of my favorite shots, though is one of them laughing. My boy’s laughter fills my heart. I love when I can make them laugh. I think I was doing some silly impression of a radio guy I worked with, which made them laugh out loud. Check out this great shot:

“A day without laughter – is a day wasted.” – Charlie Chaplin

Dante’ is ALL about gaming! He has a handful of games that he loves (on various gaming systems). He has some very good friends who also love to game. When these guys get together, the noise level doubles or triples! LOL! They are SO into the game! Usually, they are playing a game called Super Smash Brothers (which I SUCK at!) and they are bouncing and jumping around all over the place (which is fun to watch)! Skyler made a cool sign and Amy lined up some of his favorite games next to it. While Dante’ played his game, she caught this amazing shot:

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“Graduation is not the end; it’s the beginning.” – Orrin Hatch

Finally, perhaps my favorite picture of all, is referred to in the blog I mentioned above. Amy told me that she had taken the picture. I just hadn’t seen it yet. Skyler had bought a cute “gender friendly” outfit for our future baby. She had it in a gift bag. Also inside the gift bag was the picture of Dante’ and me in a frame. Seeing it, brought about all the emotion of the day, which I held back – because I had to serve up the ravioli! However, I have looked at it many times since Saturday, and well up with tears almost every time. As I showed Dante’ the picture, he could hear the crack in my voice and asked again if I am crying. He thinks it is funny that I am so emotional. He will have plenty of laughs in the year ahead, because I know that there will be many tears in the months leading to his graduation! Even though I am dressed like a bum, and my head needs shaving, I will treasure this picture forever:

“There is no greater bond than the one between a father and a son – strong, unyielding, and everlasting.”

“A father and a son are bonded for life. Even when a father never says it out loud, the son knows there is love.”

“Often, a father is proud when his son looks or behaves like him. It’s unclear why exactly fathers are like this, but perhaps it’s a sign that they know they have done well raising their sons.”

“Sons always identify their fathers as their greatest heroes, while fathers always look at their sons as their greatest accomplishment.”

In her Facebook post, Amy said, “When I am entrusted to capture “A Memory of Yesterday” for some one to cherish for years to come, I pour my heart and soul into capturing the essence of who my subjects are.”

I would say that she did that perfectly.

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