30 times • DECEMBER 17, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com DECEMBER 17, 2015 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 59 victoria’s secrets VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS vschneps@gmail.com Purging memories and objects Great Read: ‘Crooked Brooklyn’ turn- Elizabeth and 4-year-old Addy didn’t sell the infant seat because she still fi ts in it! Dynamic for all the news 24 hours, 7 days a week DENTAL go WORK to www.timesnewsweekly.com 175-15 Jamaica avenue, Jamaica 718-297-4100 • 718-297-4106 tweet me @vschneps Free Whitening included Some excluSionS Apply the inViSiBle WAy to StrAighten teeth third generation dentist $1000 off Lumineers $500 off Invisalign I awoke to a brisk December morning sun and smiled in anticipation of the garage sale I was about to have with my daughter and my neighbor. It was an opportunity to empty boxes long standing in my garage and a basement overfl owing with things. For my daughter Elizabeth, who had moved here from Dallas, it was a chance to unload the ceiling high boxes she had brought with her. But many of “those things” held so many memories I felt like I was reliving each one. Fortunately, the day was warm and inviting for people to come and as I pulled open the garage doors, I thought I was prepared to part with “those things.” The tables we had set up were overfl owing with an odd array of items. My table had old pocketbooks that had been gathering dust in my closet and costume jewelry I lived in when I bought it and now was ready to say goodbye to. Unbeknownst to me, my daughter had brought up from the basement a box of my late husband Stu’s large collection of shoes that had been covered over with baby clothes during these 2-1/2 years since he’s been gone. She brought out baby seats and car seats for the kids and when she had brought them out, she brought the shoes, too. When I looked down on his 20 pairs of shoes, I recalled how he always waited for Nordstrom’s men’s shoe sale to buy his favorite brands at a discount. There they were lined up with nowhere to go. In the pile were walking shoes he had bought from his favorite catalogue store, L.L. Bean, which never charged for shipping or returns. He had worn those slip-on sneakers on our trip to Greece where we wandered through the Greek islands exploring the shockingly white homes sparkling in the hot summer sun nestled above the sea. I walked up the steep hills to see a town nestled in the rocks but he stayed below, not daring the heights even with his new sneakers. It was hard for me to part with them but a handsomely dressed man with a silk scarf around his neck found the shoes were his size and so I parted with many, hoping this stranger would enjoy wearing them through his life as Stu had. My six-year-old grandson Jonah is a super salesman and he decided that he was going to sell the large, tan, leather chair that had been in Stu’s offi ce that was now his bedroom. Jonah had priced it at $150 and anyone who ventured up our driveway was greeted by Jonah saying “Want to buy a chair?” They were so enchanted with the skinny but handsome young man who had such a warm, friendly smile that they all walked over to look. But there were no buyers for the chair and it languished in different parts of the driveway until the last buyer left. Cleanup was decision time. What should we put back into the house and what do we donate? Most everything quickly found its place but when my daughter Elizabeth said, “Mom, this chair can’t go back to Jonah’s room. Do you want to donate it?” I couldn’t part with it. So it will sit in the garage until I can get someone to bring it to my offi ce. Some things are too hard to give away. Too many memories linger in the “things.” I decided it was okay to keep the chair and give it another life. Oh, Jonah did make many sales selling boxes of playing cards that were from airlines no longer in business. My dearest Nat had given those to me from his many travels overseas. Those were the days when airlines were generous to their passengers. A time long gone but the memories linger on... When I bought the Brooklyn Home Reporter and Spectator, I had the opportunity to meet DA Hynes who had an old friend Jerry Schmetterer as his press secretary/spokesperson. Jerry had been at the Daily News as an award-winning journalist and when he left there, I had a fantasy wish to have him be my editor. But the DA’s offi ce called and he came to cherish his time there. Hynes was known to have superb staff and one of them was Michael Vecchione, who served as the chief of the Rackets Division, grappling with crimes that could be out of the scripts of “Law and Order.” Sadly, they both left when DA Hynes was not reelected. But, as the cliche goes, when one door closes, another one opens. For these people who were extraordinary public servants, it gave them time to write an extraordinary book: “Crooked Brooklyn.” It’s so good I bet there will be a movie or TV series using the content of the book. When I read it, I couldn’t put it down. Knowing it was based on real people in the county and reading about how they committed their crimes was page-turning and powerful. I felt I was there as Vecchione and his team took down crooked politicians, corrupt judges and killers. They made me feel that I was there with them. The team is on a roll and I see many more books coming out of Vecchione’s four decades as a prosecutor. I think the voters did us a favor by freeing these two uniquely talented men to have time to share their talents with us. I hope that former DA Hynes has also found a “new door.” Authors Jerry Schmetterer and Michael Vecchione Neighbor Roseanne Frankel sold her leftover Christmas decorations
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