The past couple of days had been very tranquil. Long walks,
beach time, and my cousin Mariella from Holland and her husband Nik arrived in
town for basically my last couple of weeks here. It’s been fun catching up with
them. They managed to rent a cottage on the beach at the Lido (beach club) just
south of the Lido I go to everyday.
While trying to add money to my phone so that my service
would continue through the rest of my trip, I dropped my phone on my patio. The
screen cracked and I had no control of the phone, and in a small fit of rage I
slammed it on the table rendering it a solid black screen with no life. That
was last night. I asked my neighbor to drive me to the train station so that I
could go to Termoli, but when I arrived at the phone store at 8:45 it was too
late. They close at 8:30. That left me with no phone for 24 hours, and some lost contacts.
One contact that I lost was the gardener. While I was in
Termoli he stopped by my house because he couldn’t contact me by phone, and
told the neighbors he’d be here in the morning. He got here about 8:30 and
proceeded to transform the patio garden. After two years of no care, it needed
work. He was here for about 8 hours today, earning his pay. I did get his
number, and this time I put it in my American phone as a Google contact.
As soon as he left, my neighbor drove me to Termoli so that
I could get a working phone. They had a special offer right up my alley; phone
with a year of insurance thrown in for free. I’m back up and running. Every
year there is something with these phones.
This weekend was a great one for family. My cousin Mariella,
her husband Nik, and Zia had lunch together yesterday. It was delicious and one
of the few times we’ve all had lunch together this summer, which is the first
time we’ve all been in Campomarino since, I think, 2014.
Every family has that time when people don’t speak to each
other, or don’t see each other. Our family is no different. In 2016, I was
fortunate enough to see my Zio Matteo for the first time in 11 years. Today,
Mariella, Nik and I rode out to Zio’s house for a visit. While there, we also
got to see our cousin Mariella (yes another Mariella – Zio Matteo’s daughter)
and her husband Marco. In 2002, 2003, and 2005, we spent many nights in Italy
together. I haven’t seen them since. After a nice visit with Zio, who is 90
years young, we went to my cousin Roberto’s house. We’ve spent plenty of nights
together in America and Italy over the years, but haven’t seen each other since
2005. I got to see his wife Anna, and his family too. His little girl Serena is
now 18, and he has two boys, Lorenzo (10), and Massimo (6). I had never met the
boys. Roberto asked me how my journalism job was and it dawned on me that I’ve
changed careers since we last saw each other. It was great spending the day
with family.
