Just as I was bitching yesterday about my lack of inspiration to write anything, along comes some news to smack me right in the face. I was sitting with Mark reading the hometown paper, the Atlantic City Press, this morning, when I saw a familiar name in the obits (yes, I read them, and in the Philly paper too). The man we have trusted all of our cars to for the past 15 years died on Friday, February 1st! Antonio Cannuscio, known to all as Nino, died at 56 years old. We had no idea he was sick, although when Mark and I talked about our last conversations with him, in retrospect we both sensed that he was a bit mellower in the past six months or so. Thinking about it now I don't remember observing any dramatic physical changes; I think I would have noticed because I saw him fairly infrequently (at oil change time). I had some work done on my car recently, and I remember him mentioning that I should get a complete tune up on the car at my next oil change; little did I know that I would never speak with him again, about my car or anything else.
So, all that to say, this was a complete shock to me and has shaken me to my bones. He was only 56, and although I don't know that he was sick (the Press doesn't give any detail, they do usually say someone died "suddenly" if the death was the result of an accident, and his obit read "passed away... at Shore Memorial Hospital." I'm having such trouble with this-Mark just saw him two weeks ago when he took both his truck and VW in for oil changes, and Nino said nothing about anything amiss. As a matter of fact, he never mentioned anything, although I guess most people would not reveal an illness to their customers. He did do some work on the outside of his shop this past year, but I just thought that was some long overdue fix up that a business owner would do as a matter of course-now I wonder if he was putting his house in order. I don't know if his mechanic and good friend Luis will continue the business, but I can tell you that many people in this area have lost a trusted mechanic and honest businessman. I'm sure everyone reading this knows how reassuring it is to know and feel comfortable with the people that fix and maintain your car-it's such an important relationship and I never once had any questions about his integrity. He was also a great guy; he always engaged one in conversation and he and Mark would sometimes have heated, but good-spirited, political debates.
Our community has suffered a great loss; I'm sure that many people will be at the viewing tomorrow night. I fully expect to find a line outside the funeral home that Mark and I will stand in to pay our respects to his family (we both met his wife over the years, but he is also survived by his mother, brothers and sisters-in-law, and his wife's family) and his business partner Luis.
The moral of the story-there's no dress rehearsal for life (to paraphrase a Cher quote that my mom likes)-THIS IS IT!
RIP Nino-you will be missed.
Monday morning-thoughts after talking to Mark-it never dawned on me that Nino could have had a heart attack or stroke (while working on a car or one of his many computers) and died at the hospital-I just never think of someone in their 50's dying that way, although of course it happens all the time. I guess we will find out tonight. What a shock to everyone!
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