Memories Are Made Of This

Tonight I made a great spontaneous memory with my family. One of things that I absolutely, unaquivaclay, LOVE about my family is that we are a spontaneous bunch, and I'm so glad to be back in Nevada to get in on all that spontaneity. My brother Greg called me up yesterday to say that he wanted to take Mom and Dad out for a surprise. Ricci Martin, Dean Martin's son was in concert at the Nugget in Sparks and he thought my Ma who is a HUGE fan of Dean Martin, would really enjoy if we all went to see him together.

I will admit when he first said Ricci Martin I was thinking of another Ricci Martin and I was thinking ya know I don't really want to go see him or pay money to see him, but for Ma I would do anything. Much to my surprise we weren't thinking of the same Ricci.  We had no idea what to expect and to be quite honest I had no idea Deano had so many children.  Did you know he had 8 children all together?  4 from his first marriage that lasted 8 years, and 3 from his second that lasted the longest 24 years, and 1 that he adopted from his third and final marriage that only lasted 3 years.  Ricci said that he and his mom Jeanne later reconciled and would come together for dinners and holidays.   It was really, really interesting to hear his son talk about this legend that we all know from the Rat Pack.  He had a little Q&A time and of course my Ma shared the story of when she actually met his father, Deano. It was really, truly awesome to see the smile on his face when hearing something good about his dad. I mean here is a man who is 60 years old now and still the memories of his dad are even precious to him. 

My mom is a third generation fan of Deano. I guess that makes me the fourth generation, and you better believe I have trained my young to be the fifth generation of Dean Martin fans. I remember from a very young age my mom singing his songs and even my grandma enjoying his music.  But, tonight was a real treat because it was proof that music with stands the test of time. Good music that is. And it weaves itself into our stories. 

So the story goes in my family that my Great Grandfather Farina was a wee bit jealous of that guy up there because my Great Grandma said he was a looker with the voice of an angel.  Ahem... I'm thinking me and Great Gram  have ALOT in common !!