I am not a comedian - I just dance through life!

We all complain about our lives. It is in our nature. I have always bitched and complained about my family. I am allowed. They have made me who I am today. I make jokes all the time. Whether it's about my grandparents who can't hear me because they forgot to turn on their hearing-aids. Nonno freaking out because he just walked into the patio door after nonna just cleaned it with the Windex. My mother who never sits down at a family gathering because she is just constantly cooking up a storm. My father and my uncles arguing over a good espresso and which coffee blend to buy. Really, who has the best Saeco machine is still a wonder! My cousins with their stories of highschool living which makes me realize how old I am. My aunts, sister and I just sit back and watch it all. My family is composed of many interesting characters.

We have always been a very tight family unit. We know what is going on in eachother's lives. "Everybody Loves Raymond" doesn't have anything on us! lol...When I got sick last August, I saw fear in everyone. Cancer had hit close to home. I wasn't just a paesano, 3rd cousin, twice-removed, related to the neighbor 2 blocks away from the church. I was blood. I was sick. They were scared.

I always knew my family was special...lol...but being sick made me realize that no matter the trials and tribulations, they have my back. It was like, touch Lisa and you would have a posse at your door...lol...No matter how crazy I was growing up, my family accepted me before friends, before strangers, before themselves. Family = selfless love. When they heard the news, never mind getting a second opinion, they wanted a panel of doctors to look over my file because they were convinced a mistake had been made. Then you wonder where I get my stubborness from. Call it being Calabrese. I say it's just being a Polito.

We have become much closer since that day in August, if you can possibly imagine that. As much as I tried to stay strong for them, they became my saftey net when I decided to fall. Hugs have become the standard handshake. A kiss on the cheek has become a way of saying "I love you". I am truly blessed to have them on my side.

My nonna with her belief that her prayers to Santo Rocco cured me. My nonno and his new phone with the big buttons because he can't see very well. My parents who still ask me where I am going and who I am going out with. My cousins who still call me "lisa booga booga". My aunt and I who are truly against pisswater coffee and my uncles who still think coffee is an art...they are so right! (We take coffee very seriously in my family.) My sister and I, who are completely different, bipolar spectrums if you will. We still tell her she is the milkman's baby but it can't be because she totally looks my dad. They are all the pillars on which I stand. I could have as many friends as I want in my life, and as much I am grateful to my friends, my family will be there for life. This is reality. This is life.

My family unit glued together, we became tighter. Family will make you cry but it's because they love you. That is what my nonna tells me constantly. So when she says I look fat in that dress after offering me that extra meatball, she is saying it with love. I could write a whole sitcom based on what I go through with my family. Holidays, birthdays, sickness and health. They still ring at my door, we sit down, we eat, we talk, we drink amazing coffee.

They make me laugh. I am allowed to make jokes. Anyone else does and they will have me to answer to. People think I am funny. They make me funny. I am not a comedian, they just help me dance through life!