The Tale of A Fool and His. . .

 . . Two April Fools’ Love Stories – No Foolin’

By Guest Contributor, Carl LaFong

Kevin’s first girlfriend was born on April 1^st. Her name was Genevieve. She was beautiful and loving.

You need a good sense of humor if you are born on April Fool’s Day. People can’t help but want to trick you, especially if it’s your birthday. Kevin would often call her using a silly accent. The conversation would go something like this:

“Yes, this is Bob from the power company, we’re just checking to see if your refrigerator is running . . . {long pause} . . .well you better hurry up and catch it before it gets away!”  Silly stuff, but she loved it.

Genevieve was used to getting beautifully wrapped gift boxes — with nothing in them, except another wrapped gift box and so on. But there better be something on one of those boxes!

She was a shy girl, but on this one day of the year she secretly loved the attention. Mostly though, she loved the joy it brought to all those around her. Bringing joy to other people is what made her the happiest.

Genevieve had three children whom she nurtured with the same love and joy. They reciprocated love and joy, almost all the time. She had one son and two daughters. They were Kevin, mischievous; then Valerie, very mischievous and smart; then about 12 years later, Pamela, innocent, lovable, gullible and very smart. She got that from Kevin, no doubt!

Genevieve worked part time in the principal’s office at the Catholic elementary school where her kids went. She got to see Kevin a lot. It’s debatable whether that always brought her joy. She got through it however, and her kids all grew up to lead productive lives.  This leads me to her biggest joy of all, her six grandchildren!

Genevieve’s Sweet Six

But wait! Remember, there’s the other April Fools love story. I’m getting ahead of myself, so let’s back up. Kevin hasn’t finished talking about himself. No surprise there.

This story starts in 1971, when Kevin walked into the 99 Restaurant on Pearl St in Boston one night. As luck would have it he bumbled his way in front of four young ladies sitting at the bar. They were not amused . . at first. Again, no surprise. However, his luck changed and they actually appeared to be enjoying this new guy. Kevin couldn’t take his eyes off one of them. Her name was Anita. She had a beautiful, warm and cheerful smile. He was smitten with her – her alluring brown eyes, her dark hair, her Mediterranean complexion. Everything! WAIT!  We’re going to stop right here for a moment to mark the beginning of Kevin’s ongoing medical condition known as, cuore salta un battito or my heart skipped a beat. Which, by the way it hasn’t stopped.

Kevin asked Anita out on a real date, where they end up in the emergency room. Kevin, in an attempt to impress his date, fell asleep under a tanning lamp and burnt his face into a puffy and crispy porky the pig roast. Surprisingly this did not deter their relationship, quite the opposite actually.

Fast forward to March 31, 1975. After about thirty days of being broken up, Kevin awoke from his self-induced coma to realize that Anita was no longer in his life. But, he calls her and she agrees to see him one more time. After much groveling, Kevin pops the veritable question, Will you marry me?! She said YES! Bliss!

Knowing that Genevieve’s birthday is the next day, April Fools Day, Kevin decides to wait till then, to call her with the good news. One problem though, our birthday girl is so used to being tricked by him that she’s not falling for this story. No way! Finally, Anita gets on the phone and convinces her that we are serious. This became a very happy and memorable day for all of us.

Happy Birthday Mom.

Happy 41^st Wedding Proposal Anniversary Anita.

I Love You Both!