Chapter 2.
At Zia's House
“I think I’ve always wanted to live alone because of how crowded my family house has away been. In this house used to live my grandfather Mario, my grandmother Rita and aunt Erminia. But during the day I used to come here to study and do homework, when they went and spend time with my mom at our house. Here it was quiet and peaceful. Of course, we would all have lunch together at mom's house, but right after I would leave and come to this apartment. When my grandparents both died this house became officially mine, even though I’ve always considered it mine.”
“It’s hard to think about when I won’t be able to do the stairs anymore. I got surgery twice for my scoliosis but my back can never be completely fixed and my mobility is definitely not getting any better. It scares me to think about leaving this apartment. Your mom wants me to. I understand because it’s becoming harder and harder for me to go up to the third floor every day to go home. I don’t really have a solution, I try to avoid thinking about it. When the time comes, I’d rather find another house to myself, ground floor. But I would never go live with both my sister and my mom. That would be hell. I love them, but no thanks.”
“I never married. It’s not that I didn’t want to get married but I simply never found anyone. When your mom got married, I was happy for her but I started feeling like I was missing something; like I wasn’t good enough. I made mistakes, for sure. I had a serious relationship once; I was living with a guy in Florence. But I realized he wasn’t a good person and when I decided to break up, I felt like my family was judging me and treating me as if I was unable to ever find someone for me. I guess they were right, I’m 60 years old and still living alone... but I’m happy!”
“I love cooking. I love trying new recipes, learning about new ingredients. Most of all, I love cooking for other people. My friends often come for dinner but it’s hard to convince my mom and my sister to come. They say I’m not as good at cooking as I think. They might be right... I have to admit that I have made a few dishes that weren’t amazing. But I don’t really care. The few times that I manage to convince them to come over, they’re always so skeptical about what I made. I love to surprise them. Sometimes I surprise the wrong way, but oh well...”
“Maybe it’s because we’ve worked together at the bar for so many years that we have the relationship we have. When you work every day with the same people and those people are your family it’s hard to separate your private life and work life. People don’t understand why I’m so close to them, the way we talk and see each so often... it can be something incomprehensible but it’s part of us, it’s always been like this. Maybe Italian people in general are more connected with their families but I think we take it a step forward.
I don’t know how things will go from now on. I wasn’t expecting for your dad to leave. I feel like your mom still needs to accept it, I’m not sure when that’ll happen. I think at some point she will make your grandma go and live with her... or maybe I can live with your grandma. What I don’t see happening is your mom and I living together. I think we would end up killing each other after a few days.”