Eye Surgery

I have worn glasses ever since the 3^rd grade.  It was always something I hated.  I used to always wish I listened to my mother telling me to stop sitting so close to the television…About a year ago I really started to become annoyed by wearing glasses.  Contacts weren’t an option for me because they dried my eyes out and I didn’t have very good vision with them in. The current glasses I had were black Versace’s.  I loved the design just didn’t love them on me.  They were boxy and took over my whole face.  I told my parents I was thinking of getting eye surgery. Before jumping into something as serious as this my mom asked my eye doctor for some doctors he would recommend. 

We were given a doctor in Syracuse who has had a very good reputation.  After going for our consultation and completing all of the pre-surgery tests an appointment was scheduled for my surgery.  Being the nervous worrier that I am I actually cancelled the surgery the night before! I was freaking out and got scared that I would lose my vision because there are a lot of risks that are associated with this type of surgery. 

The next morning I called back and asked if it was too late to change my mind again…luckily it wasn’t!  I was so nervous sitting in the waiting room.  I kept having doubts and felt like running out of the room and just calling it quits. However, I stuck it out and went through with it.

The whole process took under 20 minutes.  I couldn’t believe how fast it was.  During the process my mother began crying and the nurses sat with her.  To try and comfort her they said “He wouldn’t perform the surgery on her if he didn’t feel she was really a candidate.”

I was given a stress ball to squeeze during the process.  I think I squeezed the life out of that thing! The only part that hurt was when the suction cups had to go on my eyes.  Other than that I had no pain what so ever.  I can still hear the frying sound of the machine.  It was a loud buzzing noise that to this day I can still hear clear as a bell when I think of the procedure.  When everything was done my doctor took a picture of the two of us.  He keeps an album with all of his patience which I think is a nice sentiment.

Let me just say after the surgery it was NOT fun.  Typically it takes approximately a few weeks to a month for people to heal.  In my case since I had PRK surgery rather than Lasik it took me from June 9^th to the end of August before my sight came back.  Thank goodness I wasn’t working.  I couldn’t drive anywhere which was frustrating  I had the most horrendous head

Pet Parade

So remember that little schnauzer of mine? It’s been 3 years now since I’ve gotten Eddie.  I can’t believe how time flies!  IT seems like I just brought him home and I miss how tiny he was…..

Well Eddie is quite a ham if I do say so myself.  He has more toys then he knows what to do with.  My mom keeps saying “Not another toy until some of his rip.”  Can someone explain to me why she ends up buying him something practically every time we go out (haha)

Aside from the toys (he is currently attached to his sock monkey) Of course last week it was the bunny squeak toy.  Eddie is quite smart and no I’m not just saying that because he’s my dog.  Thanks to my mom he knows various tricks: sit, stay, come, down, over, belly (he will get on his back for you to rub his stomach) high five, paw, dance, and knows to find several of his toys by name.  If it weren’t for my mom and her patience poor Eddie would be quite uneducated.  I certainly would not have been able to teach him all that he knows.

Eddie also LOVES his picture taken.  Every time we get the camera out he manages to sneak himself into practically every photo we take.  It’s kind of funny because sometimes when we look back at pictures we will be like “Hey what’s that little black thing over there….Oh Eddie…again…”

One thing I’d like to share is the annual Pet Parade we enter Eddie in for Halloween.  Every Halloween Petsmart hosts a contest for dogs.  So far Eddie has been participating for three years. (He hasn’t one yet but we’re shooting for this year!)  He has been a prisoner, lobster, and jockey all of which can be seen below. In addition he has had his picture taken with Santa too.  He absolutely HATES getting dressed up but I love shopping for cute little costumes for him.  It’s really fun.  I’m thinking of making him a home made costume this year.  I’ll see how creative I can get..hmmm oh the possibilities!

 

(Eddie as a Prisoner!)

(Eddie with Santa!)

 (Eddie as a Jockey!)

(Eddie as a Lobster!)

Eddie

My family and I love meeting new people and exploring new cultures.  Every summer we pick a new place to travel to.  In the summer of 2009 my brother John suggested London.  This was new and exciting for me because it was the first time I had the opportunity to travel overseas! 

I think the most excited out of  all of us was my mother because it meant she would be that much closer to her pen pal of 40 years….When my mother was a child in grammar school she paid $1 and was assigned a pen pal.  She was paired with Denise of Whales.  ( Get the rest from my paper)

I am passionate about animals. Throughout my child hood I have had a wide array of pets.  Ducks, Canadian Geese, Pheasants, turkeys, rabbits, fish, dogs you name it I’ve pretty much owned it!  But, the animals that I adore the most are dogs. I’ve just never had a small little house dog.  Every dog we’ve owned have been primarily bird dogs because my dad enjoys hunting. 

I had been begging my parents to let me get a new puppy and my mom kept telling me no.  However, no is not in my dad’s vocabulary.  He kept telling me to wait and he would look for something for me. While being the impatient person that I am I took matters into my own hands one day.  I opened the paper and searched through the pet ads.  I came across an ad for miniature schnauzers.  This was a type of breed I was not aware of so I researched about them online. 

Now at the time I was not employed so I didn’t have a lot of cash to spend on a puppy.  I decided that a schnauzer would have to do simply because that was just about the only option I could afford.  I drove all by myself to Salisbury, NY to meet the breeders. 

I ended up buying the last puppy of the liter, which turned out to be the runt…he was soooo tiny he could fit in the palm of my hand!!  I tend to be the type of person who makes decisions on an impulse, which is not the very wisest.  Once I had the puppy I was worrying the whole way home trying to figure out what I was going to tell my parents.  Before I got home I stopped to buy a collar, leash, bed, crate and food for my new little buddy.

When my parents arrived home lets just say their reaction was not very pleasant.  The first night with the new puppy wasn’t the greatest either.  He was put into his crate and I swear it sounded like a bunch of monkeys at the zoo! He was making the weirdest crying noises ALL NIGHT LONG. I thought my parents were going to kill me. 

As the days went by my parents grew very attached to the puppy they first disliked. It took a good couple weeks to find a name for him.  My mom (go figure) ended up naming him Eddie Shea.  Shea was for the old Met’s stadium since that is her favorite baseball team.

Italy

In the summer of 2010 my family and I finally made the trip to Italy that we have been talking about for years.  It always seemed that something always came up that kept us from making the trip.  I was so excited and could not wait because this meant I would finally be able to see relatives I’ve never met before!

The only part of the trip I wasn’t looking forward to was the 9 + hour flight…I am not fond of flying.  However, I quickly over came this fear because I didn’t want to let anything stop me from making the journey.  The plane was wonderful.  We were given meals (I opted for the Vegan meals) and I watched tons of movies, listened to music and played games on the little televisions each person had in front of them.  I was so thankful that I had all of that to keep me occupied!!

My aunt, uncle and cousin picked us up from the airport and brought us to their summer house in Acquaviva, Sicily.  The one thing that frustrated me the whole two weeks was that I do not speak or understand any Italian.  Being 100% Italian I am so ashamed to even admit that! My mother always told my father to speak Italian to my brother and I while we were growing up but he never did…As a result my brother John and I were left having my parents translate everything for us.

My Uncle Gaetano is a very energetic man for being 70.  I couldn’t believe the energy he had while taking us to various places!!  Italy was simply gorgeous.  The town we stayed in was so cute.  Every single person knew each other, which was one thing that really made me enjoy it so much.  Everyone is so kind to one another and even people we didn’t know invited us into their homes for a refreshing drink or snack since we were out walking in the extreme heat.  That kind of hospitality is something that seems to be lost now a days. 

I’ve included some pictures of the various places we visited…..One of the funniest memories I have is when we all went to visit my dad’s friend Vito in Bagheria.  The plan was that Vito was going to take us for a boat ride.  Everything was going great.  We all were having a wonderful time getting plenty of beautiful pictures of the sea when all of a sudden the motor began making this loud buzzing noise. Vito turned the motor off and when he attempted to start it up again nothing happened.  Mind you their were 7 of us stranded at sea at this point.  Luckily Vito’s cousin was the coast guard so he was able to call him and have us towed!  The funny part is my mom hates boats.  She only went with us to be a good sport.   Figures the first time she decides to go for a boat ride something goes wrong.  That was definitely an experience we will never forget.  Even to this day the boat story comes up when we talk about our trip to Italy and it always brings laughs!

 (Before going out to sea)

 (Coastguard towing us back to land)

 (Ancient ruins in Agrigento)

Poppy

I never fully grasped the saying “you never really know just how much you miss someone until they’re gone” as a child.  I never even understood what it meant to actually lose someone.  I didn’t know the meaning of death and that dying meant that you would never see someone ever again.  At five years of age I was presented with all of this with no clear understanding of what any of it meant.

In 1993, I lost my best friend, my hero, my world.   It was that year I lost my Poppy (other wise known as my grandfather Joseph Femia) My grandfather is originally from Calabria, Italy and immigrated to Utica, NY.  I get chills every time I hear the story of his childhood.  His family was very poor in Italy.  He didn’t even get a pair of shoes until he was 15! One day his father told him to leave and don’t look back because there was nothing in Calabria for him.  As a result he was a stow-away on a ship heading to America…where he later found his new home in Utica, NY…..

I had such a hard time understanding what my mother was telling me.  How was I supposed to know what death was? It was so hard for me to get it through my head that poppy was gone and never coming back.  For several Christmases I even asked “Santa” to bring a special gift for my poppy because deep down inside a part of me still didn’t want to accept he was no longer here.

My grandfather and I had a special relationship.  We were very close for several reasons.  One, my family lived upstairs from my grandparents so we were always together.  Every day I would spend the day with my grandparents while my parents were at work.  My grandfather and I did everything together.  There wasn’t one thing in the world he wouldn’t do for me.  I don’t even think there was anything he would say no to when it came to something I wanted to do. 

There are so many memories I have of Poppy and I.  We would take walks around the neighborhood of Utica, NY.  We would play house and school together.  I would play on the swing set while he tended to his wonderful garden filled with pretty much any type of vegetable the typical Italian would want to grow.  I also remember the weekly Sunday dinners of pasta and meatballs with nice fresh Italian bread that we all had together.  Of course being so young there are so many memories that I have not been fortunate to recall.

One of the memories that is the strongest is when I used to help my grandfather make home made sausage.  I can remember the smell of the red wine (which was homemade!) I can remember putting in the paprika and fennel seeds and the feeling of squishing the meat together.  I can even remember the sound from cranking the sausage maker.   My grandfather loved to cook and I loved to share in his passion of continuing the family tradition of making sausage.

 

My mother always says “Do you remember when you and Poppy ….” and sadly I would have to say no a lot of the times.  I enjoy hearing the stories she tells me of him and I because I will forever let the memory and Poppy live on inside me.  Sharing the stories of the good ol’days with him is a way of healing for me. 

(Making sausage // Gardening // Me & Poppy)