A Posthumous Birthday Shout-Out to Brother Vinnie

Cheeeeeeeeeers Chuckleheads and a Happy October 1st to you all.

October 1st is a HUGE day for a few reasons…

First of all, October 1st is World Vegetarian Day.

Sickly and pasty white vegetarians around the world will be celebrating their healthy and respectful lifestyles by lacklusterly patting each other on the back, sharing a bean sprout or two, and sneezing on one and other.

Here’s to you, you meatless and emaciated mo-foes; I’ll be thinking of you as I eat a BLT sandwich with a side of corned beef hash.  Enjoy your purity!!

Secondly…

Today is Unification Day in Cameroon.  Cameroon is the France of west central Africa (I guess), and they will be partying and unifying it up today.  Hey all you Cameroonians…Tell President Paul Biya that Matt-Man said, “Hiya.”

Thirdly and/or tertiarily (which is a word now, so shut up) whichever you prefer, today holds a very special place in my heart.

Today, October 1, 2013 would have been my brother Vince’s 60th birthday, but…he didn’t live to see it, yet nonetheless, I am going to celebrate it.

Vinnie, as most of us called him, was ultimately, surprisingly, and with alacrity, stricken down by cancer back on June 10th of this year.

It was very sad, because in addition to it being relatively out of the blue, the world lost a man who was incredibly funny, annoying, kind, and a perpetual surprise.

He was a man who was full of all sorts of manifestations of OCD which rendered his gutters without a drop of rain nor a single leaf contained within, and yet…out of the blue, he would call a person with a funny story and/or send a gift to someone.

Around the Greater Bagwine, Ohio area, his mullet is legendary.

His blondish red hair with the consistency of hot August straw which receded from his forehead and draped down his sleight back, was a testament to a bygone era, and both a challenge and a big fuck you to Billy Ray Cyrus.

Vinnie was the epitome of an Irish-German mix.  During the week, in stoic and methodical German manner, he would work 18 hours a day, 52 weeks week of the year if need be.  But on the weekends?

The spirits of St. Brendan, Brian Boru, and Oscar Wilde would take over his body and soul, and his inner-Hibernian would do a Celtic dance all over town.

On Friday and Saturday he would talk to every woman in the bar or at the party.  He would almost always do something “too spontaneous”, and then…

Sunday morning he would go to mass at St. Raphael’s either by himself or with a widowed 80+ year old friend of the family prior to taking her to breakfast.

Although Vinnie never had a family of his own per se, he was a family man to the core.  From his eight brothers and sisters down to the most obscure of cousins.  He loved his family.

And…He loved people in general.  It can be said of Vinnie, “He never met a stranger.”

That was so true in his case, because if you approached him, or he approached you without ever meeting before…he’d talk to you, listen to you, and if it was a Friday or Saturday night, he’d buy you a beer.

So…Happy 60th Birthday to my brother Vince.  He may have been a handful at times, but he is now resting in hands that are big enough, and worthy enough to hold him.

Cheers!!

Matt-Man

mattmaniws@ymail.com
@mattman_iws
My Facebook Page