I got to be a traditional Italian grandmother last week for a couple of days and I still feel the glow. Turned out, through some serendipitous blend of events, my family up north blended with my local family for one grand dinner at my humble abode where the menu was Spaghetti and meatballs. What else? Well, add green salad, sauteed zuchinni with onions and tomatoes, and black olives, garlic bread, frozen red grapes and various cold beverages. Everything gluten free and non alcoholic.
The gathering included my grown-up kids--David and Judith,, their mates--Babara and Joe, my grandkids--Suzanne and Elle and and their mates Ryan and Kevin plus three single grandsons---Andy, Matt and Sam, and 3 great grandkids--Lucas, Nathan and Gracie. It wasn't even a holiday either. 3 yr old Lucas and soon to be 2 Nathan got to meet 14 month old Gracie..the northern tyke. Loved watching Luke be ever so courtly and gentle with Gracie.
People spilled all over the house into the back yard and out the front lawn where kids nestled in a wild limbed jacaranda tree made for tree climbing. In the master bedroom - out of bounds - Des and the two cats hid out. Feeling poorly, unsociable and wary, they hung out together.
The next night we went to dinner at China Palace where some of them were adept at chopsticks. Joe, flies regularly back and forth between home and China for his company. Matthew just returned from a 6 months foreigh travel adventure where he couch surfed his way through places like India, Pakistan, Malaysia and other 3rd world sites.
In the afternoon, Judith, my pal Donna and I took in, The Help and sniffled our way through the ending. Wonderful movie by the way. All in all, a satisfying mini reunion with family.
I flashed back to my own Chicago family where cousins and siblings mixed it up and Grandmother reigned over all. Well, actually, my "Aunt Jennie did the reigning because my fraternal grandmother died at 49 when I was a toddler. My maternal grandmother stuck around until she was 92, shy and retiring and content to be in the background.
So here I was, the matriarch of the brood, enjoying everyone up close and personal. Snippets of conversation revolved around Ipads, electronic games, Smart Phones and the technology world. Now you can Skype with your IPad. How cool is that!
When I was a child among cousins, we just played cards and rolled dice, snuck sips of my grandfather's wine, with the musical background of Sinatra wannabe uncles who sang That's Amore. We ate pasta to the urges of grandma to manga, manga--eat, eat. Little did we know how content was grandma just to bask in our presence, how happy we made her simply by being. That's the melody of family. And it sings silently in my heart.
So says Sassy
I loved this Blog and it definetly brought back memories of Racine Ave. and Auntie Jennie and Uncle Joe and your Mom and Dad, and even though I wasn't old enough to have any memories of either my paternal grandmother or grandfather, I relish the photo I have of my granpa Pinelli with me on his knee in the backyard when I was maybe a year old. Carol Ann
Posted by: carol gregule | August 23, 2011 at 07:45 AM
sign me up.....another Italian Nona
Posted by: suz montgomery | August 26, 2011 at 05:10 AM