If you believe that one’s fortunes in life are based on their values, then you know how fortunate I am. Family has always been important to me. And now I have three of them: Our American family, our Italian family, and our Abruzzo family. How lucky could we be?
So here I am, reflecting on our life these last few months.
I haven’t blogged for a while because we spent three weeks in August in America. Mike and I took the trip for a couple of reasons, but mostly for Mike to check in with his cardiologist and get checkups with other specialists. We are grateful that all test results and exams went well.
Our American Family
When Mike and I married in 2007, we created a remarkable blended family. Six kids and now we have eight grandchildren. During our return to the States in August we were able to see all of them. We didn't get to see my sister Carol this time. She has five children -- two in North Carolina, two in New York State, and one in New Jersey. We did see her daughter Sandra, but traveling to North Carolina and western New York just wasn't in the cards this trip. You can see photos of everyone by clicking here.
We flew to Newark NJ from Rome and stayed with our niece Sandra for a night. Then we took the train to Connecticut and stayed with daughter Kate and her family for a long weekend. It was good to spend time with her, her husband Lane and our grandson Frank. We ate really well and got to visit Frank’s Lego workshop (he is on a team that builds robots out of Legos and programs them to do specific tasks.
Our next stop was Chicago, where we rented a car. We stayed with daughter Caroline in Evanston. Granddaughter Constance Elizabeth (aka Liz) was in Greece with her friend Maryanna and Maryanna’s family. While here, we took daily trips to doctor’s offices and did a lot of shopping. And a short trip to the storage locker to retrieve a few items. We didn’t get to see as much of Caroline or daughter Maureen as we wanted to. They both work, so their days were occupied. We had dinner at Maureen and Todd's new apartment one evening, and they were able to come by Caroline's for dinner on our last day in Chicago. The weather was perfect, so we all sat outside and ate in Caroline’s comfy corner yard.
On the weekend, we drove to Cincinnati to see son Matthew, daughter-in-law Ashley, and grandkids Connell (who turned age 7 on Aug 29, which is also Mike’s birthday) and Isla, age 2. What a lively family! We had a great time watching the kids jump on their trampoline and hitting golf balls at a driving range.
Then back to Chicago for a few days before heading off to Oklahoma City. Mike’s mom is 91 now and has recently had some health issues. So it was good to see her. She was doing well, and excited to see us too. Her partner Colleen’s daughter Nicole and daughter Lexi joined us for dinner one evening at a nice Mexican restaurant.
Our next stop was Houston, Texas. Son Mikey picked us up at the airport and drove us in his fancy new truck to his home. Daughter-in-law Lynn, granddaughter Nghi (age 11), and grandson Brandon (age 3) were happy to see us, as we them. Daughter Rebecca and her two daughters Moira and Devlin drove to Houston from their home in Austin for a day. Moira has graduated from high school and was preparing to go to college with her cello, violin, and guitar. Devlin is in 10th grade and sings in the choir.
Another fun weekend with kids.
On Monday morning Mikey drove us to the airport and we returned to Chicago. Finally, we got to see Liz and hear all about her trip to Greece. She was a bit anxious about returning to school that week, starting her last year of middle school, grade 8.
Our Abruzzo Family
We had a sleepless overnight flight from Chicago to Rome, then a sleepless bus ride from Rome to Vasto Nord. Our neighbor and friend Paul picked us up at the bus stop and drove us the 20 minutes ride home. Paul has become like a brother to Mike. He is always ready to help with anything and is just fun to hang out with. He has a sweetheart wife named Justina whom we got to know before we left for the States. She has returned to her work in the UK but hopes to soon be able to stop working and move to Italy.
Other neighbors Robert and Maria were glad to see us. Like Paul and Justina, they are ready to help us with anything. Maria is fluent in Italian and knows her way around the Italian bureaucracy. We have become close friends.
We don’t see much of our Italian neighbors Angela and Giuseppe, but they too have been most helpful. As soon as they learned that we were seeking residency, they said “You are family!” And when I showed them the judgment from the Italian courts that I was recognized as an Italian citizen, they embraced me with tears. And, thanks to Giuseppe making some contacts to expedite the process, I now have an Italian residency card that says I’m an Italian citizen. This card has been like gold for us – opening a bank account, getting internet, going through customs…
Our Italian Family
We’ve been so occupied getting settled here in Abruzzo and winding our way through the Italian bureaucracy, that we have not been able to venture outside of our Abruzzo region to visit our Italian family in the north near Venice. This is definitely on our “ToDo” list for this Fall. We have two sets of relatives who live in towns near Venice: Mirano and Oderzo.
Lina, Sara, and Simone live in the charming town of Mirano. Lina owns a fantastic restaurant and B&B and Sara and Simone work there. Sara is married to Massimo and has a son Andrea and stepdaughter Asia. They live on a small farm that produces vegetables and meat for the restaurant. Simone is married and has two young children.
In Oderzo, the family is much larger. The first time I met them was in 2001 when Kate and I visited. We were welcomed with open arms and many “bacci”. I remember Tarcisio holding up a photo of my father and saying “cugino!” He has passed on now, but his wife Antoinette is still the matriarch of the family. Their two daughters Valentina and Luisa and husbands live close by. Valentina and Alberto have three grown children and six grandchildren. Luisa and Julius have one married son and a granddaughter. It is a very lively group when they all get together.
Mike and I are looking forward to making the 5-plus hour drive up north to visit them. I can’t wait to see how the kids have grown.
Comments