Pizza memories at Gino's

“Our grief journeys are not about closure, they are about adjustment and staying connected.”

When I look back on memories people have written about Ben, they are often about food, fun, friends and faith.

Jonty writes:

Ben was one of the pioneers of the after church, Sunday night, expedition down Lygon Street to our favourite pizzeria Papa Gino’s.  It’s difficult to summarise his eating preferences other than to say he seemed to favour quantity over quality. 

Whether it was chicken parmagiana the size of a pizza or a pizza the size of a chicken hutch, Ben would eat it all. He even took an interest in other people’s dishes, once commenting that a friend’s pizza of preference (No. 21 Ortolana with hot salami) was a “pretty pizza”.   

This photo was taken in May 2008, just before Ben was diagnosed with cancer. He didn’t want to stop and smile as he was too hungry. It looks like he was waiting to attack a large No. 17 Bolognese.

The phrase that Jonty quotes of a “pretty pizza” is so Ben that I can hear his voice in my head.

The after church Sunday night sojourns to Papa Gino’s with number 21s, and 17s, continue.

Is there pizza in heaven?