I think I’ll stick my two cents into this conversation and mention my experiences in relation to what’s been said here. My father and mother went to Italy to be the best man for Aniello’s grandfather wedding. I was very young but I know it was a time when our families from both countries were getting back together. Later on, a man came and stayed at our house who also was a cousin. I can’t remember his name but know he was an Italian customs official. He spoke in a little broken English but he was a strong minded person who spoke his ways. He is the one who told me that I had been chosen to wear the scarf of a great Bianco who fought in a war between the rich Northern and the poor southern cities. Before that he was a man who was a bandit who held up Northern stage coaches and always wore a big scarf over his face as he did so! He always shared his earning with the village and was respected and feared by all. He had a small band of men and they would enjoy the local women, as he was a lover of sorts. (That was all I was told at this time), The relative was insistent that this was an honor and I believed him, since my father had also agreed that it was what I should do. I took this on and have worn a scarf for all the 80 years that have followed. If for some reason I would leave my home without it, I would go back no matter how far I had to go to get it, Till I realized that a spare was acceptable, but if I was out without it I felt and still do feel I have no cloths on…TRUE! In all the years that followed, I never thought anything about it till I and my wife Claire went to Italy to visit my family there because young Aniello showed up in America and I then wanted to visit and meet all there. While there I was treated like I was always there and my cousin, Aniello,s grandfather took me under his wing and his grandmother would prepare meals for killing. You can’t imagine how wonderful I felt being there and accepted by all. A women cousin who stopped doing her normal routine of being a pediatrician while I was there and took us everywhere and treated me like her brother. Her name is Marieantoinette and I will never forget how wonderful she was. Aniello showed up and it was complete. His grandfather and he brought me along with them into the history of what and where the Bianco family fit together. It was wonderful to watch them both tell me of our history as they both glowed, making me glow as well. Years later, when Aniello told me of his Grandfather’s death, I was unbelievably sad… more like my father’s death! Actually it was because my father was suffering so bad from cancer that you could not watch him suffer. Aniello is now like my son, as when he came into my life it was with a jump into my arms and hugging me like we had met before and he missed me terrible as we hugged each other. In a sense, I feel like I’m like our bandit ancestor in many ways. In my life I travelled to Asia and took from all the manufacturers there, by paying pennies for things they made and selling them for 10 times the amount. They actually thought they were cheating me as all they ever got for their products was rice, and they couldn’t sell it for more than the government’s established prices, as anyone charging more were hung on the spot… I’ve seen it happen! However, doing this in the Philippines, I gave work to thousands of people who were Living in grass huts in little villages and had nothing but their religion for comfort. Well, I’m babbling on now, so THE END!
You want me to wear a Scarf?
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