Something Else

My Zia Lena's husband, Bruno passed away 13 years ago. I am really sorry I never got to meet or know him. Everyone talks about how wonderful he was, every person has a different story but he was loved by them all. Thirteen years later everyone still talks about him. That's special.

I have a habit of repeating words I hear and like. The other day I heard 'spettacolo' (spectactular) and repeated it without thinking while at the dinner table. My Zio Beni is a fairly serious man and he just laughed at me.

The words I heard today were 'sposini freschi' it means 'newlyweds'. My Zia was telling us how her and Zio Bruno came over to Australia on a boat shortly after they were married. It was a 15 day holiday while they stopped in at different spots. Sposini freschi doesn't actually translate literally. It would say 'little married fresh'. The way she talked about it was as though it was last week, last year, some time recently. She spoke of her 'sposini freschi' status with a little glint of the childish excitement she had all those years ago.

Last night was the first time in about 2 years where I actually missed my Nonno. His character, the way he commanded everything around him even without saying anything, his laughter, the way he said our names, the way he was 'King' and 'Charlie' and 'Dad' and 'Nonno' and 'Pa'. I just thought it was worth mentioning.

<3 to your mother.