lost a cousin today to cancer that he contracted at the ground zero site.
He has become worse and worse as time has gone on it was terrible to
see pass this way.
When we were young[so that was a long time ago] he lived upstairs
from my Grandmother in Manhattan on 34th street.
It was a time before air conditioning and when we ran up and down
the fire escape to get to each others place.
During the summers we slept out on the fire escape to get a little
relief from the heat, and during the winter we kept food out on the window sill
because the fridge was so small then. There was no such thing as double doors
and floor to celling units like now.
His Dad owed a couple of Bars in the city and Tony and I would get up early in the AM
to go restock them from the night before. Man we felt so grown up. We were just about 9 or 10 then.
Since then he became a big Lawyer in Manhattan wielding power when it needed to be and becoming
wealthy in his endeavors.
The thing that always made me love the guy was he always made time for family no matter what.
I remember him dropping everything in the middle of a big real estate deal and coming to stay by my
Dads side as he lay dyeing in Bethesda Navel Hospital. The car he hired that day just sat there for 28 hours
waiting on him.
He said your Dads more important than what I have to pay for some damn car.
I will be taking the train up to the city in the Am to say my good byes. Man this is going to be tough.
I will get to see whats left of a very small family that the rest just don't get it.