Ci Vediamo
After my visit with Bahiyyah in August 2024, I went to Italy My to visit one of my best friends, Hannah and her husband Miki. They live at the goat farm that I volunteered at through WWOOF in 2021. It felt like coming home as I was enveloped in their embrace and smiles. I didn’t take the time to blog because my days were so full and I was happily pooped by day’s end. These are my recollections of that amazing time:
Miki and Hannah have been caring for his mother for the last few years as her dementia slowly took over. When I met her in 2021, she and I conversed in my terrible Italian and some English and I cried the last time I saw her before my departure. “Ci vediamo!” I’ll see you, I said through tears. She always treated me with a tender kiss on both cheeks and a hug in the ensuing visits. This time she was very frail, and had lost the ability to speak well, and she didn’t recognize me. I remember her soft, sweet hands that held mine each time I’d visited before and I still think of her sitting in her chair, wearing her warm red sweater. She passed away earlier this year. Dear sweet Rosemarie.
Visiting QC Ferme Spa in Turin with Hannah for her birthday. Soaking in hot water, relaxing in rocking chairs in a brightly decorated room, nibbling on yummy things at the all you can drink snack bar. It was just incredible. There are QC Spas all over Italy, so visiting more of them is on my To Do List for my next visit. There’s one in New York, but staring at the skyline while sitting in a hot tub is not my idea of relaxation.
We had lunch with Samuel, Miki’s son, at his home located on the estate where he is the landscaper. Yowza! What delicious salami and cheese, incredible red wine and lively conversation. Samuel is a real cutie and exactly the kind of guy I would have wanted to date if Peace Corps had been in Italy.
Lakeside Chillout. We rented lounge chairs and spent the day snoozing, reading and eating by the waterside. It was peaceful and restorative.
My Dream House. The house up the hill from Hannah and Miki had been vacant for 15 years. I’d passed it many time when I took the goats out to graze. Her friends from Belgium purchased the property, thinking to fix it up as a holiday home. Hannah gave me the key and I spent several hours walking through the long neglected rooms, imagining how lovely the place could be. Wim said that he wants it to feel love, and baby, I would love the HECK outta that house! I’d remove the moldy smell from the heavy wooden furniture by hauling it outside into the sunlight, putting newspaper soaked in vinegar inside for a week, and then polishing the pieces with lavender scented beeswax. The hideous fake paneling would be stripped off the walls in the living room, and everything would be given a fresh coat of paint. I found rolls of the original wallpaper in a closet, and that would be used to brighten the kitchen. The huge dining room would be filled with the sound of laughter and clinking cutlery, wine being uncorked and music when I had friends over. The shuttered doors would be wide open to let the clean air stream into the upstairs while I sat on the terrace drinking a cup of tea each morning. I love that house. It’s referred to as The White House, but I would paint the outside a delicious sunny yellow, a beacon of coziness and warmth. I told my husband Valentin about my desire to restore the place. He’s a sweetie, and gave me a noncommital “we’ll see”. Realistically, I can’t get in there to start the overhaul until the plumbing and electricity have been fixed and it takes a million years to get stuff done in Italy. It’s gonna be awhile, so maybe in my next life I can live there.
I fell down the narrow attic steps my last night there and got pretty banged up. While my forehead bled and they patched me up, I joked that I was determined to die in Italy! I ended up getting a doozy of a black eye since my glasses jammed into my nose so hard. The Immigration Agent asked me “what happened there?” When I responded, he merely gave me a side-eye and told me that I’d been approved for Global Entry and to go get my photo taken.
It felt strange to not visit Italy this year. Family responsibility warranted that I stay home and care for folks who were doing “poorly”. However, next year I’ll be there to visit Hannah and other friends, to housesit, to consume gelato, carbonara and crisp white wine. Now that I’ve been there, Italy will forever be in my heart and in my blood. Ci vediamo pronto, cara Italia.
