I am a late-arriving member of the Mello clan. After my mom died and my dad married Theresa Mello, she told me many times how blessed she felt by how readily she was accepted by my grandmother; not only her but my two younger brothers as well. Every time she told me that, I reminded her of how readily her sister, B, had accepted me and my two older brothers, how the whole Mello family had, as a matter of fact. From B's great Sunday meals when we visited Dudley St., to those way-cool, outta sight pants with the vertical stripes, patch pockets and mile-wide vinyl belt with the big gold buckle she got us for Christmas. I was styling in junior high until the principal told me I couldn't wear them. Dad told him he could tell us what to wear when he bought our clothes for us. That was sweet. It was much later when I came to realize just how tough she'd had to be in a man's world of work. B was a liberated woman before the term even existed. God speed.