The Powder And The Finger

  I had the rare privilege of being accepted, and treated as, an equal, by those whom I admired - a leader of the community, a quarterback at my high school, and the right-handed Kenny Stabler. The Mirendas. . PHIL MIRENDA THE GREAT I am sure you’ve heard, at least two-hundred times before, about the generosity and spirit of the original Phil Mirenda. A tireless man who could never say no to his community, your Grampa was. I started to write this thru the eyes of my fifth-grade self; which I still may. But I wanted to open this story as a thirty-ish version of me, who, like your Grampa did before, had a kid enrolled in Saint Joseph’s Elementary school, in Mountain View. He would still bar-be-que for the SJMV spring carnival, like he always did; ignoring the advice of those who asked him to rest. I was in the same parent-teacher meetings as the best guy that went to our church. And I should have stayed in such a path; as a parent, as a human. It was unimaginable, for me, to be behin...