Life and How to Live It Podcast

Episode: Lessons from Our Parents — A Mother's Day & Father's Day Tribute

Host: Dr. Rocco | Co-Host: Pete Logiudice

Episode Overview

In this special episode, released around Mother's Day 2026, my co-host Pete Logiudice and I take a step back from our usual format to do something a little more personal. With Father's Day just around the corner, we decided to dedicate this episode to our own parents — the lessons they taught us about life, how to live it, and how to be good parents ourselves. This one comes straight from the heart.

Pete's Story: Albert and Donna Logiudice

Pete shares warm memories of growing up in the New York City area with his Irish-Italian family. A few highlights from his story:

• Parenting as a united front. Pete's parents, Albert and Donna, were always aligned. What mattered to one, mattered to the other — and their children were always the priority.
• Quality time over quantity. Even though his dad worked constantly, he always made time for catch in the backyard, ball games, and family day trips.
• Two families, one big table. Pete paints a vivid picture of alternating Sundays — one week with the Italian family in Eastchester (pasta, meat, baseball on TV), the next with the Irish side of the family in the Bronx. Different food, same love.
• A mother's calm. Pete's mom had a gift for putting things in perspective. No matter how big the problem felt, a call to mom left you feeling like everything was going to be okay — even if nothing had actually changed yet.
• Parenting with respect and empathy. These are the values Pete credits to his parents, and the same ones he and his wife Michelle have worked to pass on to their four kids.

My Story: Alfredo and Tomasina Chiappini

My parents' story is one I never get tired of telling — it's a testament to courage, resilience, and the immigrant spirit.

• Born in wartime Italy. My parents were born in a small town between Rome and Naples in the late 1930s. Their early childhood was spent in the middle of World War II — with battles literally happening in their backyard. At one point, German soldiers occupied their town and the entire village had to flee and live on a mountainside.
• A MacGyver mentality. That kind of upbringing shapes you. My dad could take anything and turn it into something useful. He never wasted a thing.
• Coming to America. My father arrived in the United States in 1961, in his early 20s, with about $10 in his pocket. He came alone — driven partly by the loss of his mother at age 13 and tension with his stepfather. He had a cousin here who helped sponsor him, and he arrived with a job as a mechanic waiting.
• My mother's journey. My mom came a few years later with her parents and siblings. Though my parents knew of each other in Italy — their families both worked in the traveling markets there, his selling fabrics, hers selling shoes — they didn't become a couple until they reconnected at a gathering in America.
• Building something from nothing. My mom worked as a seamstress. My dad worked in mechanics and construction. Together, they saved aggressively and my father had the vision to invest in real estate — buying multifamily homes, collecting rent, and flipping houses before it was even a popular concept.

Lessons I Learned from My Parents

Here are the core values my parents instilled in me that I've tried to carry forward:

• Courage. Taking leaps of faith and backing them up with hard work.

Support the show

Feel free to visit my website

https://www.neaccoaching.com/podcast