Hey bring your shoe shine box.

So we decided to get away from it all during Christmas week. We flew out of Kennedy today and it was the same old shit.

We had to pull an all nighter packing as there was last minute stuff at the store and what not. I didn't even have time to get my shoes shined and the wife was giving me crap for days about it. But then a merciful God intervened. Just as we got out of the security line...what do we see....a shoe shine guy.

Emilio is from Salerno and has been in Whitestone Queens for about forty years since he emigrated from Italy. He shined up my shoes and the wife's boots while we laughed and joked about growing up Italian in New York. I talked about the days of canning tomatoes and making wine with my grandmother. Emilio makes his own wine and promised me a bottle the next time I see him. And his wife and daughter are coming to the store.

What a great way to kill some time before the flight instead of buying overpriced peanuts at the Hudson Newsstand.

And we have shiny shoes. On to Florida.