Wednesday, August 01, 2012

happy birthday

He would have been 50 today, my first husband. He's been dead half his life. There should be a milestone for this day, but I'm not sure, exactly, what.

Years ago our kids and I used to mark his birthday by cooking up his favorite meal: veal cutlets. Frank loved a good veal cutlet. Maybe, over time, he would have seen the cruelty in the veal cutlet, the little huts the baby cows are confined to and so forth (though, his name was Vitello, so maybe not). For our short life together (three years of a marriage that produced two children), we'd celebrate August 1st with eggs Benedict and mimosas upon waking. Jesus, talk about your high cholesterol food choices! Ah, but we were young. What did we know of mortality? What did we know about clogged arteries and politically sensitive eating and the raising of children? We were just out of the snorting coke years. The selling pot years. We had menial minimum-wage jobs in food service. We delivered the Sunday paper together, him--flinging the Arizona Republic from the back of a copper-colored pickup at four in the morning, me--pregnant and disheveled at the wheel.

What would Frank Vitello be like as a 50-year old? Would we have stayed married? Would we have churned out more kids? Where would we be living? When he died, we'd just moved back to New York State. That day they pulled his lifeless, smashed up body from a pile of crumpled Mustang, I was, again, big with baby. My daughter, who was technically a fetus when her father was killed, does not eat veal anymore. Or wheat, for that matter.Would her father be giving her shit for her gluten-free ways? Would he raz her about the tattoo on her ankle? Frank liked a good talk radio show. Would he be voting for Romney, then?

And what would he have to say about his son's chosen career as a poker player? "Why, at your age," he might say, "I was holding down four jobs and digging out the septic tank in preparation for my second child." Or maybe he'd be all proud and amazed that his son is living the life, rolling with the big boys. Doing well with the cards. In reality though, all he could say to his son today is, "Why, when I was your age, I was dead."

I remember my first husband's laugh. The way his eyes crinkled when he was amused. He liked a good, stout ale. He'd approve, I think, that I'm now married to a guy who brews his own. Sometimes I imagine us all at the dining table: my dead husband, my alive one, my ex and my children. One big meld of family sitting amid steaming piles of disparate food: tofu, beef, sauerkraut, pizza. If I could only be a fly on the wall while my various husbands discussed global warming, college sports teams, the upcoming presidential election, raising chickens.

The men. The babies. Life. 

Happy birthday, Frankie. If I had a kitchen, I'd cook you a meal.

Love,
Suzy

9 comments:

  1. Oh Suzy, what a story. Here's to you, Frankie.

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  2. I love the image of your family around the table, all your husbands and the kids and the food, and everyone talking a mile a minute. Beautiful story, Suzy.

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  3. happy birthday, frank. (you had excellent taste in women.)

    "Why, when I was your age, I was dead." such a hard pill to swallow. this is a gorgeous tribute. thank you for sharing.

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  4. This was a very touching tribute and a very realistic vision of life. Wouldn't it be something to have them all together in one place. That's the kind of wish I want to see come true.

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  5. Damn, that was powerful. I think this way with my mom, too -- had she lived, how would we have discussed politics? Relationships? What would I have learned about her that I'll now never know?

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    1. Hi Laura,

      Ah, the conversations we'll never have. The ones that die in our heads. It's all so "road not taken" isn't it?

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  6. This is beautifully written. Life is full of different what ifs and you captured these perfectly.

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    1. Blush. Thank you, Jennine. Very kind.

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