It all starts with your parents. Here's where mine grew up and met!
I owe my entire existence to a small market called Bennies.
“Ah the produce aisle! That's where I saw her. It was love at first sight!” -Dad
By plane, by boat, by car, and by fate my parents ended up two towns apart. Dad grew up in Ivoryton and Mom in Old Saybrook. Both were reasonably close to Bennies, where they would each meet the love of their life.
Getting to Bennies
Violante and Orazio Roberto live on Main Street in Ivoryton. They wake up and head to work in factories while their sons, Tony and Michael, are off to school. The boys wake up and make breakfast on their own. They walk outside to see Doug, their neighbor and best friend, up in the tree in the front yard waiting for the bus. When it arrives, they all head to school, where Tony and Michael learn their English because the home language is Italian. After a long week, the family goes to Mass on Sunday morning. When they come home, they walk up the hill to the bocce courts behind a Aunt's house. Food is prepared, games are played, conversation is the kind of loud only true Italians can achieve. And they are all true Italians, having all immigrated from the small town of Serino, Italy in the Province of Avellino with the one exception of Violante, from a nearby town called Gesualdo, Italy.
Years later, Paul and Kathleen Smith move into a home one exit down the highway in Old Saybrook. They wake up and head to work as an engineer and a lawyer. Their children, Kristin and Patrick head off to high school. They return home from school and head right to work. Kristin takes her bright orange, Toyota Celica to Bennies.
Michael and Kristin are both working for Dave, the owner of Bennies. From long shifts to staff game nights, Micheal and Kristin get to know each other. Eventually, Violante starts sending Michael to Bennies even when he's not working to pick something up, knowing Kristin will be there. Kathleen does the same to Kristin. As the story goes, a strong friendship turned into a lifelong relationship. And thank God, because I love my parents.
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