"Your cologne makes you smell like a 70 year old Italian man."
"You play bocce? Such an old Italian guy."
"What's with that alarm clock? Looks like something my Italian grandfather would have."
Yep, I've heard it all. My roommate says that I remind him of a 70 year old Italian man. His friends chuckle and look my way, but I don't care. I love being an old guy in a young man's world. I'm an old soul, so I've been told. The more I live my life, the more I believe it. I'd much rather play in a men's football league early on a Sunday morning or sit out in the front yard with a cigar in my mouth than anything else.
To be honest, this article is more about what I miss about the suburbs, or the 'burbs, as I like to call them. What I miss about my life back in Connecticut. My friends and I regularly played bocce in high school, as we are all Italian, and bocce is a classic Italian game. Nothing wrong with that. As for my older accessories, like my alarm clock and television, so what? I enjoy the look and aesthetic of older electronic devices, just like my roommate enjoys his modern computer that he built himself. I don't tease him about the bright RGB lights emanating from his computer's tower; so don't make fun of my Cathode Ray Tube television, my Commodore VIC-20 computer, or my 1982 General Electric Alarm Clock Radio.
My cologne, if you must know, is straight from Giorgio Armani, an Italian fashion icon. If I smell like a 70 year old guy, who cares? Better than smelling like a 19 year old boy coming straight from the gym.
I miss family dinners, I miss the homemade gravies, Italian slang being hurled at me by angry parents or joking friends. I miss my grandmother shouting, "Jack! How are you!" when I walk through her front door. I miss everything. Life was simpler back then. I miss tooling around in my friend Chris' Ford F-150 Platinum truck, going around Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York and Massachusetts, exploring whatever we could find.
College life is complicated and difficult. People are nasty, misleading and selfish. I don't like it. This has been what's been on my mind this week. Thank God I'm home and with my true famiglia, whether it be friends or family. I need a break from this college bullshit.
Joe, Chris, and Liam, thanks for being the greatest friends out there. You guys always will be. I love you all.
Ma, Dad, Grandma Premus and my entire family, I love you guys endlessly. Thanks for everything you do for me.
