John worked construction for a number of years, where he met Larry Pacini. John bid on his house and didn’t get the job, but later crossed paths when he finally bought his property just a mile down the road from Larry. They eventually became good friends. Larry was hardworking, good-natured, and always willing to help. One spring, shortly after John had planted his vineyard, he began to plow the vineyard. At the time, John was the contractor on a consuming project and had only one day to plow. He knew the ground was still a little wet, but plowed anyway. Larry Pacini drove by and turned around. He got out of his truck and stood in the row, waving his arms, and swearing at John in Italian to get off his tractor. Larry didn’t care that it was John's only day to plow. He said the ground was too wet and John would have to wait another two weeks. To this day, John always waits a little longer to plow than he thinks he should. And when he hits it just right, with the smell, the sound and the sight of the soil crumbling off the moldboard (as Larry said it should), John gives him a yell of acknowledgement from the tractor seat.             Irece and John first met when John and his construction partner did some work on her husband Piero's wine cellar. She told them not to bring lunch, since that was their main meal and that they would all eat together. They had just butchered a spring lamb. They began the meal with homemade prosciutto, bread, and Piero’s wine and ate polenta with a tomato sauce made with the lamb’s organ meats. Toward the end she said, “Now for the best part,” and brought out the roasted lamb head. John felt totally at home and in the world of his grandparents. It was the best meal of his life. From his first meeting with Irece, John felt that he had always known her (she said the same). He thinks often about her love for life, her sense of stewardship to animals and the land and, of course, her meals. John has never eaten food like he ate at their table (which he could never tell his mother). One of the last times John saw Irece, she was bedridden with cancer. He brought her a pizza fresh from the oven, with tomatoes from the garden. She looked up at him and said, “You can always tell when food is made with love.” John asked her if she was ready to die. She thanked him for asking and said she was ready but was worried about her family. She said, with that incredible sparkle in her eyes, “But John, what if it’s better on the other side; should I call for you?” He told her to use her own judgment, as he had always trusted her judgment. Thirteen years later, John believes she just wanted him to find his own way.