106. A Message from Italy

I’ve had two lovely surprises during these terrible times.

I was showing my husband Ben something on my Facebook account, and he said, “Hey, you’ve got a lot of messages here!” “A message? What’s that?” I replied, not being the swiftest with all this social media stuff. Well, it turns out that sitting there for three months, out of the blue, was a note from my cousin Giacomo in Rome, including a photo of my extended family on Christmas Eve. He writes, “Tomorrow, I’ll celebrate New Year’s Eve with my sisters and our friends in my home. I am very happy that I can talk to you now, but for the next time, we can talk also in Italian. (Clara and Angela said to me that you speak Italian Very well!!!) Buon Anno to you, Ben, Lizy, Maria and Rocky!!”

In the photo, my first cousins Giacomo, Angela and Annalisa, the three children of my Uncle Pasquale, are at the far end of the table, surrounded by children, spouses, and grandchildren.

I have not seen my cousin Giacomo since my family’s trip to Italy in 1965, but I would recognize his Simeone hairline, just like my father’s and replicated in his son, the young man in front in the photo.

The other lovely surprise? I decided to use the stay-home edict as motivation to take on an hour of household cleaning or organization every day. On the first day, I tackled the dining room closet. Amidst all the junk I was apparently saving for no good reason, I came upon a long-forgotten envelope of century-old family photos, from both my mother’s and my father’s side. My wonderful photography instructor George Tate always says that photos are one of the few things that gain value as time goes on, until they become priceless. He’s right.

There’s a bittersweet quality to Giacomo’s message, of course. Filled with holiday spirit and the joy of togetherness, they look innocent to us, not knowing as we do now that a murderous public health catastrophe is headed right their way, full steam. I hope they’re all right.  I hope and pray that next year, there will be another holiday picture waiting for me.