Before my eyes the years passed in a split second, and events that happened in the past, I could now remember in the most minute detail. In my dream , past episodes of my life passed before me, people from long ago came to life again , not only could I see and hear them , but I could also touch them. I laughed with delight as I saw Mrs LaMonza again and Sara as a young girl and I remembered the first time I met Mrs. LaMonza's sister, Aunt Sofie .

It was Christmas eve long ago when Mrs LaMonza's son Anthony came over to me and said in a very hushed tone that since I was a bleeder, I would have to be very careful around Aunt Sofie, now a "bleeder" is a boxing term, these were the guys who shortly after they were punched , red blotch marks would show up on their skin, soon after a ratatattat of the gloved punch they were bleeding profusely from the nose, eyes and mouth. I thought he was just kidding me but he said it in such a serious tone that I was a little bit wary of meeting her, I thought to myself , what is she going to do? Would she haul off and sock me one ?

I soon found out as this large gregarious woman came in through the front door, followed by a skinny diminutive husband and their two daughters who were very Italian and very pretty but not as pretty as Sara in my eyes. Aunt Sofie zoomed in on me like a radar guided missile, with one hand she tousled my hair and with her other hand she took about an inch of flesh on my cheek between her thumb and forefinger and pinched until I let out a yelp. I turned to Anthony pointing out my cheek and asked him if was bleeding ?, he just looked at me with a knowing smile and said , "I told you so".

The crowd of Aunts, Uncles, cousins and friends all parted like the Red sea for Moses as Aunt Sofie came through the room she was a hugging and pinching machine, not missing a cheek or a tousling of hair among the children and young adults.

One of her daughter's gave me a flirtatious smile, which led to Aunt Sofie asking if I was related ? I turned to Sara who for a split second had a look of jealousy on her face , which was something new , she always looked at me as a friend, in fact her boyfriend was stopping by later. I never told her how I felt about her.

Now Aunt Sofie considered herself a match maker , as she made sure her daughter sat next to me . Of course it was under her watchful eyes as her seat was next to mine! I remember she liked to talk as she ate , and she liked to eat as she talked, mostly about her daughters as they were budding thespians breaking into show business , acting in stage shows and dinner theater. I sat back in my chair as the story spilled out with her daughter on one side and she on the other, she had a captive audience.

In a loud booming voice she spoke to me, "A nice thing about Philadelphia are the small individually owned shops, they give such character and atmosphere to the city, I love searching out for shops that are off the beaten track, and that is how I found this great dress shop. My daughter Maria, loves to sing and she was a regular virtuoso, I aways encouraged my kids to do what they loved,so she had an audition coming up for a play and I wanted her to look her best.

I found this little shop where you could bring an idea for a dress, and they could either make it from scratch or modify an existing dress to what you wanted, they were not cheap, but they did terrific quality work, besides the dress would not go to waste, I could always pass it on to one of my sister's kids when Maria out grew it.

We went there one day for a fitting and I met the owner, she was a woman in her 60s , her skin was as flawless alabaster, she wore her lifeless dull hair pulled back into a severe bun and her light eyes seemed as if they were dead, I took one look at her and I thought she would be perfect for my brother Joe.

I asked one of the seamstress there what was the boss's problem, she went on and on about how this woman and her husband had started this business when they were younger, they had poured everything into it , her husband never wanted children, but she always believed the wife did, the husband left her for another woman and left for California, and to top it off he wants her to sell the business, I just thought to myself, she would be perfect for my brother Joe, who is also a lawyer by the way.

I have to pat myself on the back, I just have a talent for matching people up, I made sure that when that dress was ready, my brother Joe went to pick it up. We got the dress, my daughter got the part, and the store owner , she got my Joe".

As she finished her story , I could not help but wonder what plans she had in store for me ?.