Day #5

Great joy I permitted myself when M contacted relatives in Jelsi.  There are people there who knew my mother.  I'm learning more about my mother; who else wanted her and that my father continued to court her from Ancona, returning to visit when he could.  There were descriptions of the gifts he sent, pretty feminine things.

The joy continued.  A relative rang back, I spoke with them, 'don't book anything' she said, 'come to me, stay with me three or four days'.  Her daughter in the background, prompting.  'Don't go to the Agritourismo, stay in the piazza opposite the post office'.

'Where is the post office?!' Zia M demands of Ottorino.  'How should I know' 'he responds laconically 'I'm not the postman.' We all laugh.  Zio S laughs with us.  We love her excess, we love her vitality, we tolerate her because she gives us so much energy.