Thank you to … my Uncle Ron, who brought my Italian heritage alive

In this series writers celebrate a person who changed their lives. Paula Cocozza recalls the relative who lived in Worthing ‘but always seemed to have one foot in Italy’

Dear Ron,

Or should I say “Uncle Ron”, because that is how I always addressed you, even well into my 40s? I guess a part of me continued to feel like the small girl who slipped secretively under the table, still laden with Sunday lunch, to climb up on your knee. I always feared someone else would get there first. And I was in a rush to reach you. Some people are peaceful to be near, and that’s how I found you.