Today I went to see my mother’s cousin Lidia, 86 years young. She and I had lunch with her son and his girlfriend who live next door. Very pleasant afternoon! Lorenzo & Lucia LOVE to travel, showed me photos from their recent tour of the Loire Valley. Amazing castles, beautiful collections of paintings & sculptures, formal gardens, quaint towns, beautiful countryside. They said they haven’t seen all of them so will do another round in the near future. They offered for me to join them, they would pick me up in Paris and then we would go around together. Oh, yeah, this just keeps getting better and better! But first, Lucia needs to get through another knee operation (it’s a long story) and physical therapy and then…..we’ll see.
Dropped in for a few minutes to see Alberta and her daughters, Anna and Chiara, also next door. Francesco was out of town so we’ll get together later.
Then I went to see Tina. I knew it would be very emotional. She and Charlie had a great deal of affection for each other in spite of the language barrier. He made sure she knew how much he appreciated every meal she prepared, in a comical combination of facial espressions and hand gestures that genuinely made her laugh. He didn’t mind making a fool of himself for her. And she went out of her way to make his favorite dishes. Truth be told, they were all his favorites. Mine, too, because she learned to cook from my grandmother. After Sandro, her partner of 20 years, died in 2021 she moved out of the house they shared together and returned to her original apartment. Which is where Charlie and I stayed the first few times we came to Italy, pre-Pietrabuona. Many, many happy memories in the apartment itself, where the love affair began. I watched Charlie fall head over heels in love with Italy, the people, the food, the light, and, of course, my family. For the rest of his life, he embraced wholeheartedly all things Italian.
Tina is in her 90’s now, a little thinner, frail but she managed to walk down 3 flights of stairs instead of just buzzing me in like a normal 90 something year old. We talked, she showed me a picture of her 9 year old granddaughter. I showed her pictures of my grandkids and great-grandkids and she squealed with delight that, among them, one of them is named Charlie. Yes, they had something special.
As I left, she told me how happy she was that I came to see her, so sweetly that I left in tears. Good thing I drove home in daylight.
PS If I have time tomorrow, an interesting story from Tina’s childhood.