Page 19
April 09 to May 09
May 14, 09
It's been a month since the last update so I wanted to share with you some of the things that are happening around "DeLuca-land".
I
told you that back in March, Sergio celebrated his 45th birthday and
received a lot of wonderful well wishes from a lot of terrific people. I
wanted to post a picture of a gift he got from a couple of old girls
soccer players, Jenna and Julie Benavidez. It is an elephant (Sergio
favorite animal) dressed in soccer gear in a wheelchair. Well, you can
be assured that this gift is one that Sergio just loves and that brought
tears to his eyes.
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Is there an artist in the house?
In
Sergio's younger days, he was very creative and quite the artist. You
would see a lot of drawings and projects around that he created. Well
even though Sergio is unable to move most of his body, he still manages
to be creative! A few months ago, Sergio "painted"- yes PAINTED a
picture for his niece, Dina- the outline head of an elephant. With the help of his kids, they would load
up a brush with the paint that he wanted, and have them put the brush
end in his mouth. He then would paint with his mouth the most amazing
pictures. He also started painting pictures for the rest of the family.
Here is a picture he painted for his sister, Sonia, who enjoys wines. He
matched the colors to her decor. You can be assured that this artwork is
now considered a priceless treasure to Sonia. (see
inserted
photo)
He painted a picture for his sister Norma. He plans to make one for his sister, Lucy. But his latest creation is a picture he painted for his baby sister, Tina, which has 6 symbols representing each of the DeLuca kids (hammer and saw for late brother Enzo- who was into wood working, elephant head for himself- Sergio collects elephants, a cross with halo- Sergio's version of an angel which Norma collects, flowers for Lucy- who loves to work with silk and real flowers, a wine bottle and grapes for Sonia who collects and enjoys wines, and a soccer ball and baseball/bat for Tina who is played and is very involved with her kids sports).
This is a perfect example of one of my favorite sayings- "It's not what you can't do that counts- It's what you can do that means a lot".
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And
the artist gene is alive and well in Sergio's daughter, Alyssa. Not long
ago, Sergio and Alyssa went to the craft store
and Sergio asked her to
paint a birdhouse to put in the backyard. Well, that started a series of
many more birdhouses
that she made but only with the direction of her
dad. She is his hands, he is her director......He helps pick out the
birdhouse, pick out which colors to use and lets her know what extras to
paint on it. And with son, Frankie's help, they are all screwed
into the rod-iron fence in the backyard. Some are just birdhouses and
some are bird feeders which have attracted many of them to come by for a
food frenzy. Many of us have spent some time in Sergio's backyard
watching the birds come by for a bite and enjoying the beautiful houses
and feeders that are a true family treasure.
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Senior Prom for Alyssa
In mid May, Alyssa and her boyfriend, Chris, went to their high school's Senior prom. Like all formal dances, there is the dress/ shoes/ hair and make up to worry about. But one of the most important things to this family are the pictures. So before heading out to dinner and to the prom, Chris and his parents came over to the house to have the pre-prom pictures taken by Alyssa's Aunt Tina. Sergio and Kelly were so pleased to see Alyssa all dressed up and Chris looking so handsome. But Sergio had a big treat in store for Alyssa- He was going to stand up and have a picture taken with her. You see, standing for Sergio is next to impossible even with help these days. But Sergio wasn't going to let his ALS stop him from having a standing picture with his daughter on her special day. So with the help of both Alyssa and Frankie and with Kelly by their side, Sergio stood for his daughter's senior prom family picture.
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It is always a treasured gift to hear from friends and family from time to time. Sergio would love to hear from you. He is always interested in catching up on what your family is doing. Even if it's just to say hi! Drop him a line at
Frankie checks his emails daily and is happy to help his dad in responding to the emails he gets.