Day Three – Sunny in Florida; I Lost my Wallet

I lost my wallet today. Actually, I think I could start every blogging this way. I am a wallet forgetter. I once lost my wallet for three months. Against, the wishes of my Fiancée at the time (my wife now) I didn’t report it lost or stolen, as I knew it would show up – and it did.

So when I say I lost my wallet, your reaction should be as if I were telling you it was sunny today in Florida. I usually don’t freak out, and realize it will probably set me back 15-20 minutes. Therefore, I always allocate time for this type of occurrence on a daily basis.

Another example of my absent-minded professor behavior (a better way of stating “I am an idiot”) -- I had to make a last minute trip to Milwaukee to pick up my birth certificate for the cruise. A mere five hour round trip drive before I started my 24 hour drive to Florida.

Before we got on the cruise, I lost my wallet a total of three times. When you move 400 miles every eight hours, saying you left your wallet back at the house, takes on a whole new meaning.

I thought I learned my lesson, until we pulled up to the cruise line parking lot. Once again I started immediately calculating a round trip (93 minutes back to the Rachieles, 15-20 minutes to find my wallet, 93 minutes back to the ship), I would have 4 minutes to check-in and board the ship. However, once again, my wife saved me, “Here it is, it’s in my purse.” Which starts begging the question, “Do I forget my wallet, or is it preemptively ‘found’ before we leave the house?”

Day three found us at the Lee and Rosalinda Rachiele’s home. Lee is my uncle on my father’s side, whom, unfortunately, we only get to see every 15 years or so. Both Rosalinda and Lee loved my father, Frederick Rachiele. Fred died when I was six months old. Rose and Lee say that I look a lot like my father, and every so often will refer to me as “Fred.”

Dino, my cousin, arranged the surprise visit. Lee and Rose are days away from celebrating their 60th anniversary. Dino thought that a nice precursor to their surprise trip would be our visit. And it was. As usually Dino, the comedian kept the kids entertained with the ‘fart-machine.’ Devin was convinced that Leilani, Dino’s girlfriend, just returned from a burrito eating contest.

Dino kept the adults entertained as well with the stories -- “Please, Seniora, please don’t let your son call to see if your having a good time,” the Italian crew member wept. Dino had called the ship to say ‘Hello’ (calls were usually reserved for emergencies only back in those days). So, the captain and crew presumed something awful happened to the children as their parents vacationed away from home.

Our first trip to see Lee and Rosalinda in Florida, Krista and I were newlyweds. Krista read “A Prayer for Owen Meany” to me the whole way as we drove. After our first visit, Krista noted that Rosalinda never cooked a piece of meat that wasn’t first flattened by a meat hammer.

Rosalinda is a phenomenal cook. And she didn’t disappoint on our short visit either. Dino made a sausage and tomato bread appetizer and baked ziti, while Rosalinda cooked up some herbed chicken and peppers. You know a good cook when she has her own chicken stock in the fridge.
The meal was topped off with some espresso and chocolate, chocolate cake.

Eating at the Rachiele’s was a great preamble to a cruise in which you are fed all day long. Even the morning in which we left, we where treated to a raisin-walnut French toast with sliced bananas in butter rum sauce. Hey, I still need that recipe.

A visit to a close but infrequently visited relative makes you do many quick comparisons. Most of them physical (will I look like them in forty years? God, I hope so.). But, visiting with the Rachiele’s leaves me thinking of deeper, intangible traits that I hope to carry with me. The Rachiele’s say that my father was a really great man. If these people admired him, as much as admire them, then there is a hope that such good genes will hopefully soak through to my children.