Journey of Transformation;on to Florence to meet the rest of the family…

After saying goodbye to the village of where my parents originated from, the village that has my family roots, the village of my heritage, culture of my family…

It's time to move on, to venture further afield and expand my horizon, just like my family had to do just after the second World War, to give themselves and their families a better life.  As we drove back on the autostrada to Florence, we talked and reflected on the past few days.  It became more apparent to me, once we spoke about the political and economic situation in Italy, that my parents made the best decision for themselves and for us.

Here I live in Australia, the land of opportunity…where anything that is possible can be done.  The only thing that can stop me is me…and through my mothers and fathers foresight I am living the life of my dreams and actually living the reality!

Enough philosophy…we drove for six hours apparently through a storm as well, Daniela and I were so engrossed in our conversation that we didn't even realise…

Arriving in Florence to where my Uncle and Aunty live, it was great to see them again, and to also see Daniela's Nonna Lucia, who is 92 years of age, was a real delight and pleasure.  Here is this woman who has experienced so much in her life and is still able bodied enough to cook, clean, wash and iron,  and being a important part of the family, it was incredible to experience.  I have a Nonna in Australia of the same age, and she has been bed ridden for the last 13 years, what a joy it would be to have my Nonna be as agile and mentally alert as Nonna Lucia.

Here I also saw another Aunty and cousin, unfortunately my Uncle (the same age as myself) died a week after I was operated on with my breast cancer in 2004.  It was difficult to see them again, especially as we had spent some great times together over the years, and here I am sitting in their home, no Uncle and my Aunty's father had also just recently passed away…how things change with time.

Seeing my family in Florence and going to the cementary where my Uncle who was only 6 months older than myself lay, I realised that life is a journey of choices and we have so much to be grateful for…