Family, you've got to love them. I got a call from my cousin Lillian; she is like my sister. We lived across the street. I was an only child. We are very close.

When I was doing radio in Denver, I was also taking care of my mom. I knew she was not long for this earth.

I only got two visits: my aunt who flew in from New York City at lease five times and my cousin Lillian. I called everyone in the family and said, "Please come to visit." Only two came. You remember stuff like that. Lillian came to visit and she brought her infant son, Baby Joey. My mom wanted to hold him. I looked at Lillian; my mom could hold the baby, she would drop him. I said, "Mom, that's not a good idea."

Lillian said, "Of course you can hold my baby. Joey, this is your Aunt Ann."

It was the longest three minutes. I stood by my mom just in case. She was dropping spoons, pillows, everything. But she didn't drop Baby Joey.

We got my mom dressed, put her in the wheelchair and we went out for Chinese food. We laughed. Lillian is like me, a little crazy. We had wonton soup. After we finished the soup my mom said she wanted some soup.

"Aunt Ann, you had a bowl already."

My mom looked at her, "I did not."

Was she joking?

"Mom, you want more?" I asked.

"No, I never had any. What do you think, I'm stupid?" she said.

"But Mom..."

"Stop it, Dominick, I want wonton soup. Stop trying to make a fool out of me," my mom demanded.

I ordered more soup. We all went back to talking. I wanted to cry but acted as if nothing happened. So did Lillian, but I saw a teardrop fall out of her eye. We both knew things were only going to get worse.

So that's my cousin Lillian.

Well, I get a call... from Lillian... I panic. Lillian's mom, my aunt, is 87, so when I see Lilly's name on my phone, I get scared.

"Is everything alright, Lillian?"

"Dom, my mom and I were nervous. We heard there was a shooting in Montana and we wanted to make sure your were alright."

Now, I read a lot getting ready for my morning talk show. I hadn't heard of any shooting in Bozeman or any place else.

"Lillian, where was the shooting?"

"The shooting was in Montana."

"Lillian do you know how big Montana is?"

She was trying to remember where the shooting was... "Is Montana bigger than New Jersey?"

"Yea"

"But on the TV news they said something about a shooting. Are you okay?"

The thing is most people in New York have no idea how big Montana is. They don't even know where it is. New Yorkers think they are the center of the universe.

But you know what's bigger than Montana? The love Lillian has for me. I am so blessed.

Family, you got to love them.

Dominick

Earth From One Million Miles
(Photo by NASA via Getty Images)
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