Finally in San Giuseppe

     I'm here. I'm really back in San Giuseppe. Back in the house that my dad and my grandpa built. Back in these familiar walls that are so so familiar even though I've only spent a handful of weeks here over my lifetime. This place means so much to me. More than I even know sometimes. Like right now. I can't believe how overwhelmed I am to be here. To be able to be here. I love it. I just spent 15 minutes looking around everything in it (it's a small place..nothing special). But I do love it. I truly love it. I have such good memories here. Laughter stands out the most. And pictures provide the rest of the memories. This is where I came on my first trip when I was 8 months old. My parents put me on the floor of the plane on top of a blanket and like a good little baby I slept most of the 9 hour flight from New York to Italy.        My dad's cousin, her husband and two sons were living here at the time. Gianny is a year older than me and Francesco was a baby. I know this because of the pictures. That's why I LOVE pictures so much. Without them I wouldn't have these memories. There's pictures of Gianny and I in the play pen standing there in just our diapers because it was July/August and it was just too hot to put clothes on children. The adults wished they could dress like us. And there's video. My dad took video. Ooh I want to watch that when I get home. That is my earliest "memory" then. Of course I don't actually remember being here but still. I'm just sad that I never got to come here with my grandfather. It would have been so much fun. But I can feel him here. He built this place and therefore he is this place. I can look into the backyard and see the "garage" he built and see the stone work he put into this place. He was a bricklayer by trade and did beautiful work.
       The train ride was fast….exactly why I took the bullet train. Had a little confusion when I got there and realized that I hadn't set up a meeting spot with my dad's cousin, Gianfranco. But we worked it out. His daughter, Anna, ran at me full speed and oh my goodness she was only 2 when I saw her last time. Now she's 7! SEVEN! Oi Vey do I feel old. Got in the car and got to the house. Immediately saw my great-aunt Zia Eleanora and her husband Zio Antonio. Oh I love them. She is one of 3 of my grandpa's 6 siblings that is still living and she's the only one with her spouse still alive with her. They're adorable together. I love them. And her daughter, my dad's cousin Lina came over. Then another great-aunt's granddaughters (there's a lot and you'll hear about them a lot so keep up) Anna and Milena came to say hi. All of this in a span of about ooh 5 or 7 minutes. They all live on the same street. It's not hard to see when someone new has arrived. Bustled me into the house. I had 3 different people talking to me in Italian and well it's going to be an interesting two weeks is all I have to say about that. But I'm here. I'm here I'm here I'm here. And my mommy left some green tea here when she and my dad were here in April and now I am enjoying that before I go greet the rest of my pazzo famiglia (that's crazy family). Love them. <3 being "home"