a tight knit family

My latest layout for Dad's genealogy/scrapbook:

Aldo was an only child... the center of Greg and Della’s universe.

Right from the very beginning, it was just the three of them: Ma, Pa, and Aldo.

Each was the other's closest friend, ally, confidante.

Pa's family was back in Italy; after emigrating to America in 1920,

they exchanged cards and letters,

but he never went back...

until finally in 1981, after they were all gone.

Ma's family remained distant in a different way...

although they lived in the same neighborhood where she had grown up,

the relationship was, at best, strained.

Aldo was always very close to his parents.

Yes, he had his boyhood friends and schoolmates.

However – understandably, properly – it was always to Ma and Pa

that he turned for love and comfort

...and they to him.

***

I selected the two snapshots above from a large selection of similar photos in Dad's photo album. There seemed to be a distinct pattern from each photo shoot, whether outside their home or up in the mountains on a picnic: one shot of Aldo and Ma + one shot of Aldo and Pa.