This is Friday, a forum for the Human Connection.
I remember hearing how Italy was shocked into forced quarantine when COVID hit hard. My mind went immediately to my cousins there, some in small towns I remember first visiting when I was 12 years old. (see photo!)
And I remember it was a big deal when Jello was introduced to some of them living in small mountain areas. My aunts there each had a tiny dorm-sized fridge when we stayed with them and I remember asking my dad why it was so small. He told me it's because they don't keep produce or meat longer than a day - every day the women shopped for fresh fruits and vegetables...and sometimes the chickens in the back yards were dinner. (I ate some of those chickens before I knew that.)
Over the years we kept in touch here and there, and I saw a couple of cousins on return trips as an adult. But when COVID hit hard here at home, they were the ones who reached out to me right away. They knew what was coming and they wanted us to know we weren't alone. All of a sudden I was emailing with long lost relatives across the seas and loving them even more for their desire to rekindle personal human connections across the sea.
When in my research I came across this article, I felt a pang in my heart and wanted to share.
"...I received an unexpected email and I was delighted—not to mention surprised—to find it was from an Italian friend I had met more than 30 years ago when I was a student backpacking around Europe. "
Sometimes we don't know who needs a call. Sometimes, somehow, we do.
"In a crisis, we obviously need to be there for the people who need us most. But reaching out to people who might need us just a little bit can help take the edge off a difficult time—for both the caller and receiver. "
