Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Sylvia was one of a kind!
About ten years ago, I told her she needed to adopt me. She quite logically wanted to know why, since I have a perfectly good mother, so I told her that I needed a backup, in case anything happened to my original model, Ann Stuart, Sylvia's Busy Fingers friend from Our Lady of Sorrows.
She thought about it for a while and said she'd give it serious consideration if I could tell her why I deserved to be Italian. I told her that I could make my own pasta and ravioli from scratch; that my husband could take care of the check in Italian restaurants; that my son, Matthew, has always thought he was Italian, despite his predominantly Irish, Scots, and German heritage; that his wife, Ali, was married to Matthew in a reproduction of a 15th century Italian Renaissance gown; that my younger son, Bryan, loved Dante Gabriel Rossetti; and that his Significant Other, Rachel, thought pizza was God's gift to girls from Wisconsin.
Sylvia decided we met her criteria, so she became "M.O.M" -- My Other Mother.
On one of my later visits to New Jersey, she said, "I've been thinking about this adoption thing, and I suppose you want me to leave you something in my will now." I hadn't really thought about it until then, but I knew exactly what I wanted -- Nicky! Matthew, Ali, and I use his recipes all the time, and the only cake Matthew has ever really liked comes from one of Nicky's cookbooks.
There will never be another Sylvia, and there will never be another day when I don't miss having her in my life.
With love from her adopted family,
Mary Ellen and David Gast
Matthew Gast and Alison Burek
Bryan Gast and Rachel Kirby
