The seventh entry into The Cardinal Vaults comes courtesy of cousin Vicky. In this photo, Papa is pictured with all six of his grandchildren.
For those of you who don't know everyone in this photo, I'll start with myself in the bottom left and identify my cousins/siblings going clockwise: cousin Billy, cousin Vicky, my sister Tiffany, cousin Missy and my sister Katie. When I say "cousin Billy" or "cousin Vicky" I can't but help thing of Balki Bartokomous saying "Cousin Larry" back in the day on Perfect Strangers...but I digress.
Anyway, there are three particular things I love about this photo:
1) Vicky's "D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs" t-shirt. An instant classic. I can remember taking the D.A.R.E. classes in elementary school and that D.A.R.E. stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education. Officer Roberge would be proud.
2) My Reggie Lewis t-shirt and Celtics shorts. You can tell that my love affair with the Celtics started at a young age and it's probably no coincidence that I ended up attending the college that Reggie put on the map, Northeastern. Man, I wish I kept that shirt.
3) Papa holding Katie. As you can tell from previous entries in The Cardinal Blog, my entire family adored Papa to no end. But I have to admit that no matter how much me, Tiffany, Billy, Missy and Vicky loved Papa, Katie was without a doubt his favorite grandchild. I, however, hold the unique distinction of being the only child or grandchild that Papa ever "spanked." I did deserve it though because I whipped a rock at Tiffany and hit her in the head after she was gloating about catching more fish than me. Give me a break though, I was probably only 6 years old...but you can see my competitive spirit started way back then...d*mn you Tiffany.
I have another good photo of Papa with his grandkids (before the "chosen one" Katie was born) that will appear in The Cardinal Vault at a later date. Check back soon for the latest entries and thanks again cousin Vicky for scanning in some classic pix.
How to make me cry! You forgot to mention how everyone that knew Papa absolutely adored him.I had the BEST EVER father-in-law and I miss him more than words can say.I was so blessed to have him in my life and to have him be my childrens grandfather. Thanks for this entry it brings back so many wonderful memories. Love Mom
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