Jake, it reminds me so much of my grandma - my wife and I have owned the house that she bought in 1913 for almost 30 years now and I'm very proud of it - I still think of her just about every day and it brings back some good old memories for me.
She was well known in the local Portuguese community for helping others from the Azores get settled in this country and ran our home as a boarding house to help make ends meet - she was a little woman, 5 foot nothing and yet carried 100# sacks of flour up from the basement on her back, raised 6 kids and through hard work bought 2 other houses in our neighborhood.
A no-nonsense woman who had more strength of character and personal dignity than anyone I've ever met. Talk about iron willed - wow.
The thing that still always gets me is that she never spoke to her children in Portuguese and consequently neither my mom or my aunt and uncle were fluent - which it seems is not uncommon. I guess that generation felt being bilingual would be a hindrance to their kids growing up - discrimination was a big factor, I suppose, for people trying to get established in this country.
But boy, was she funny. I still can hear her today.
'Hey, damned shtupa kid, why you spenda you money like that?'
I don't often laugh out loud at many comedians, but I think what makes the guy so funny for me is that it's so true.
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