I have so many different memories of Armando over the years. One of the ones that still makes me laugh is my first experience of the infamous “tongue in the eye”. Fortunately for me, it wasn’t first-hand experience. In all the years I’ve known him, Armando never caught me, but I think that was mostly because he didn’t try very hard. Anyway back in the early 90’s, when he had come to visit New York, a group of us took him to his first baseball game at Yankee Stadium. After the game we were standing on the subway platform and John, one of the people with us, kept teasing Armando and needling him. John was the type of person who had a really smart mouth and was never at a loss for words…..until In one swift motion Armando just pulled John’s head towards him and it actually looked like Armando was going to kiss him, but instead he stuck his tongue in John’s eye. Well I have never seen someone so flabbergasted. John’s face got all red and his mouth kept opening and closing; he sputtered but no actual words came out. He was like that for almost two minutes while the rest of us were rolling with laughter and Armando just smirked at him. He’d finally found a way to shut the “bandit” up. (Armando’s nickname for John) I also remember how touched and honored I felt when Armando and Tracy asked me to be godmother to their first child. Armando wanted to make sure we always kept in contact and he found the perfect way. And so began my yearly visits to London which have been going on for 18 years. Armando had a way of making the simplest things fun. At some point during my visits he’d always play DJ, picking out fun music and videos that he and the boys would dance to or at least their version of dancing.  Then of course a visit couldn’t pass without Armando asking if I wanted to look at his coins or his stamps or his collection of whistles or any number of other collections that he had. I think Armando must have been a magpie in another life. He’d always have a laugh in his eyes when he asked me to look at his treasures because he knew that even though I’d seen them many many times I wouldn’t have the heart to turn him down. He played me every time!! Then he’d proceed to take out each thing, which was usually carefully wrapped and explain the history and where he found each item. And it wasn’t just old things he collected. Even the toys in the McDonalds Happy Meals were potential collectable. I still have sitting on my desk at work the little Lumiere that he gave me from the Beauty and the Beast collection. I am very lucky to have such wonderful memories of Armando. My life has been so much better because he was a part of it. Thank you Armando for being my friend. I miss you. (Red) Linda XOXO