Being Family (essere famiglia)

Today is day 19 of my Sicilian adventure. I caught a cold around day 2 or 3 and still feel the effects of it. It’s been annoying but hasn’t stopped me from enjoying anything. I usually get some sort of giant bruise or sometimes multiple little ones on my legs from just walking around the house. I am a person that often bumps into things because I am not focused on walking like I should. My brain is almost always in multi-task. With all the walking I’m doing, I did wonder when I would trip or slip or hurt something.

Well, that day is today.

I had some grand plans. I took a fantastic cooking class on day 17 with a business called Ortigia Flavour. It really exceeded my expectations. Guiseppe, our guide, showed us how to shop in the fresh market. We bought some bread for bruschetta, stopped at a famous fish monger who showed us a picture of himself with Pope John Paul II, and finally I learned where to find SMOKED (affumicata) buffalo mozzarella. Delizioso! We then drove about 10 minutes out of town to the family farm and kitchen where we cooked a meal together. We being five of us…a couple from New Zealand and a couple from Singapore/Australia. We made the very famous Sicilian dish, “Pasta a la Norma”, veal cutlets cooked in fresh orange juice and my favorite, squash greens. Again, if you wanna see pictures of my trip, follow me on Instagram @slurenner

I was super excited about recreating my favorite parts of this meal in my own kitchen this very evening. My plan was to go and see the Greek Theatre in Siracusa, because the New Zealanders said it was their favorite thing and then walk over to the market to buy some veal, the squash greens and that dang smoked buffalo mozzarella which just about changed my life.

I hopped on the 9:48am train and landed in Siracusa 10 minutes later. I find my way around by using Apple maps and setting it to walk. It’s worked pretty well (except my first day alone in Catania, when it brought me through a rough section of town to a CLOSED train station). If I’m honest, that whole day, Italy really kicked my ass. It happens to the best of us. :)

I plugged in “Teatro Greco” and off I went. About 100 ft in to my 1 mile walk, I turned left down a street that was gravel instead of cobble stone. There was a bump I didn’t see and down I went. Facing forward and blocking my fall with my hands. Both of my palms and my right knee hit first and scraped on the gravel road. My hands were scraped up, full of dirt and bleeding. My knee had the advantage of my having pants on to protect it so just some ruined pants and a little scrape. I will also likely have a giant bruise in a few days because it’s me.

Two people witnessed my fall. Both walked over to help me up…super nice. I told them I was fine and started walking forward. Not thinking, a little stunned. The lady that witnessed my fall followed a bit and offered me some alcohol gel. Again, super nice. It was around this time that I stopped and looked at my bleeding hands. I had nothing but the antiseptic gel and Italy isn’t super accessible for sinks and first aid (ONLY found in a farmacia). Being 100 ft from the train station, I decided to bail on my day trip and take the first train back to my little town so I could properly deal with my injuries. So, here I sit. Bandaged up and home for the day, reading and catching up on social media and text messages.

My aunt Becky sent me a video of my whole family sitting on her deck and singing O Sole Mio. She said I didn’t need to go all the way to Italy to hear Italian songs. So true. It got me thinking about them. My family. I come from such good people.

More than 100 years ago, my great-grandfather, Antonio Sauchelli and my great-grandmother Antonetta Tarlizzo left their homes in the region of Benevento (Fragneto L’Abate to be precise), sailed from the port of Napoli and crossed the Atlantic ocean to a new life in America. Can you imagine? Leaving all you know, …people, culture, language. Antonio came from land-owning family and they had money. He had to leave Italy because of a family scandal. Antonetta came from an extremely poor family. She was a peasant. The opportunity came up to marry Antonio (a stranger to her) and sail to America. She had very little choice. That’s what it’s like being poor. They arrived in America through Ellis Island, struggled through the Great Depression and built a life. My grandfather, Joseph was their 6th child, born in 1921 and sadly, the second Joseph Sanchelli. The first died of starvation and disease (in other words, he and his sister died of poverty) during a very very difficult time in American history.

When I remember this story I cannot imagine the suffering they endured and you’d think we’d be destined for a lifetime of sadness. But truly what we all remember as a family is the JOY that has always filled our houses. The absolute, infectious and exhuberant joy, laughter, music, kindness and warmth that we have in a lifetime of memories and still today. It is the single most perfect gift I have in this life. To have been born a Sanchelli (the “U” of Sauchelli changed to an “N” by a clerk in Ellis Island) and to have been surrounded by the most complete kind of love for my entire lifetime. There has been no shortage of painful times and circumstances but if you’ve spent any time with us, you know this is true. We’ve got this family thing figured out.

All this to say, if my aunts and my mom or any of my sisters and cousins would have been with me today when I fell down, I would have heard about it for years. They would have checked quick to see if I was okay and then laughed til they cried because those strangers were polite but I’m sure the whole thing looked really funny. It is FUNNY when people trip and fall. My Aunt Gina would have laughed first and THEN checked to see if I was okay. She’s always been the meanest. :) My grandma Ruby would have said “Uh-huh, Grace…how’s your trip” and then chuckled quietly to herself. Then, they would have cleaned my wounds, bandaged me up, bought me gelato and we would have moved on to have a beautiful day together. And then in about 10 years, they’d bring it all up again during a game of “Nuts” because they are tired of losing to me. And they’d laugh until they cried all over again. This is what being family is all about. ❤️🇮🇹🇺🇸