This Family of Mine

Ah, this family of mine. I wouldn't choose another. I love them all. But Marco, without a car--since one of my Ford Rangers broke two months ago and I won't have the money to fix it till next week--wakes me daily at 4:30 AM for a ride to work. Today he had me drive him to his girl's house and then began calling at 7 PM for a ride home. No big deal but it is a seven mile round trip and I had just put a chicken in the oven and started a tomato sauce to have with bow-ties (a simple tomato with basil/ shaved parmesan and mozerella) and couldn't pick him up till it was done. I don't like leaving the stove on when no one is home and no one was home as Chepa had Madeleina, Sarah was at work, and Italo was out. So I finally called Marco at 8:10 and said I'd I'd pick him up in ten minutes. Two minutes later he calls and opens with "Hey, you stupid fucking old man..."
I had to cut him off. "Marco. Are you talking to me? You don't really want to get into it with me, do you? Cause you and Italo are the only guys who can use that phrase and not get into it..."
"I know. And I'm sorry. What I meant was you don't have to pick me up. I'll get a ride from someone else."
"Then that's what you ought to say."
"Sorry, dad."
"Much better. I'm the guy doing the favors here, right?"
So that was Marco today. Do him favors, get called a stupid old man.
Italo, on the other hand, went to work at 4 AM, finished work at 9AM, came home and left at 9:30 for a tryout with the Dallas Burn, the American Soccer League team from Dallas. He's not home yet, and I'm sure, with a bad ankle he got playing in this semi-pro team's playoff Saturday night, that he couldn't have played up to par, but I'm still gonna give it to him for going to the tryout, an open forum. Boy has balls of steel: You got to thing you're special to show up and tell a pro coach you ought to be on his team, knowing he's probably going to laugh at you, tell you you're too slow, too small, not skilled enough and so forth.
So I'll find out in the next hour or so when he returns and I'll tell you guys how it went. All I know is that Italo has made every team he's played on better by large strides. On the semi-pro team, if you remember, he made the practice squad some months ago and was thinking of quitting. I told him to hang in there, he'd get his shot. And he did. Over the course of the season he wound up grabbing half or more of each game. And in the last playoff game he played the entire game, defending well, having two assists and scoring once--as a midfielder. And if he ever makes the Dallas Burn, he'll make them better as well. He's just that kind of influence.
Two sons. I love them both.
P