Now Let Me Speak....

Now, I know that it's been awhile and as the clock ticks forward, 

 I do not see Rachel making progress with this blog. 

So, I take the reins in hand and write what must not be forgotten. 

I speak of faces, relationships and the creation of beautiful friendships.

We remember and took joy in seeing Rita's sister in law, Nadia.  

Never during our time in Alessandria did we see a frown on her face!  

She is a glowing smile whenever encountered and she takes special care of Chiara
when Rita or parents may be busy. 

Chiara is surrounded by love and influence that I, Sister Wendy, greatly approve of.

Yes, Rita has gotten much "blog time", but look at her beautiful face

and her joy of life--as the French say,

Joie de vivre!

And upstairs neighbor, La Senora (as Rachel calls her), our friend Leda.  She is so full of passion!  She told a wonderful story about how last year she left her apartment and moved away to another town to be closer to her son.
She lasted one night and headed back home to Alessandria.
Who, may I ask, could blame her??
It's Alessandria after all!
She has fierce political stands and beliefs which both Kim and Rachel greatly approve of...
She is not so much for my Holy Father, Il PaPa in Red Shoes,
but I must forgive that...

And then there are Rita and her daughter, Stefania. 

They are a close knit family who are there for each other each and every day. 

And upstairs neighbors, Roberto and Francesca came and spent an evening with us.  They no longer live in our little compound but came over to see us. Robert calls Kim and Rachel, "My sweet girls".  Sometimes they leave each other little Skype message that I over hear.

The gang went out for a traditional Italian pizza dinner.

A little wine too...

Roberto so generously paid the bill!

Here's Alessandro, son-in-law to Rita, husband to Stefania, and father to Chiara.

Here was Rachel's little pizza dinner. 

And lastly, for myself, I met with two of my old dear friends...Mary and

Mary.

This Mary resides in Rita's bedroom and we got to know one another while Rachel and Rita would be cooking and Kim and Chiara would be practicing Kim's Italian.

Often we were like flies on the wall, listening to their chatter, proud of them as they always seemed to manage their language barriers.You wouldn't know it from this picture but Mary has one sense of humor; we giggled together a lot!
Now I must admit that I grow a bit weary with all my keyboard tapping and hopping. My knees are not as flexible as they used to be in my younger years...All these years of kneeling have take their toll (but so worth it).
These were my special memories from a reunion that, quite frankly, I never believed would really occur.
Lucky us!!