Mothers, Daughters, Weddings and all that stuff in between

December 5, 2008 at 5:46 pm (Friends And Family, Uncategorized)

In September of 2003 I sent this message to my friends, having just returned from Italy where I “met” my mother again…

—————–e-mail dated 10-3-2003…………………………………….

Hello Friends:
 
I returned yesterday after almost a week in Italy- a rather eventful week during which I saw my mother for the first time in 35+ years.  I also managed to make my first (and ONLY) appearance on Italian Television-
I have to say, I am not sure which of the two was more traumatic:)
 
Meeting my mother has been a dream of mine for many years.  In many ways, she is exactly what I expected and in just as many ways she is not.
The relief I feel in finally knowing where she is is hard to describe. I still feel numb and it will probably take me a while to process everything.
 
My mother lives about 60 miles from Rome and I am her only child. She’s quite an interesting woman, speaks 4 languages and loves music,art and horses. While I can’t yet say what role she will play in my future, I am incredibly happy to have an opportunity to find out. 
 
I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for all the prayers and good vibes you’ve supplied during these last two weeks.   
 
A extra special thank you to the BEST best friend a girl could ever have. Amy was my rock throughout this week- she managed to keep me sane and steady and laughing.  She also kept me from walking out about an hour before my big television debut and took on a horde of Italian speaking, chain smoking TV producers all by herself.  Somehow, she did not loose her mind in the process! I could never have done this without her.
 
Here is a linkto the TV Show’s web-site with a photo of my mother. Sorry it’s in Italian- Janeen said there is an English page but I could not find it. Please forward this to any interested parties I may have missed.
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 Fast Forward to today
So much has happened!  My mother and I have seen each other 4 times since then, which is pretty good considering we live on opposite continents. Nikki and I are headed back to Italy tomorrow, to celebrate my Mothers Wedding to Francesco and we are both very excited. 
Getting to know each other hasn’t been easy for either of us but it’s been such a gift.  I think that unbeknown to me (or her) our Reunion has healed and changed us for the better.  I am still not the most trusting soul but I am getting better. It’s been 5 years since I’ve had to wonder where my mother is. I’ve had 5 opportunities to wish her a Happy Birthday. 4 Mothers Days. Presents, Cards, Pictures and Letters that have begun to make a dent in that big void that used to exist in my heart. I don’t think our relationship will ever be a conventional Mother/Daughter relationship-whatever that means.   I still get frustrated with trying to communicate my feelings and thoughts without stumbling over the language barrier– we have our own mix of German, Italian and English which has yet to be named.  She’s definitely the one who has an easier time weaving me into her life, her past and her future. I still get angry sometimes trying to understand our separation and the impact it has had on both of our lives.  But the GOOD, the really good that has emerged from our Reunion far outweighs the challenges.  Each visit gets a little easier and I am SO excited that I get to be a part of her Wedding.  During our week in Italy, we will also be celebrating Nikki’s 16th Birthday and my 42nd Birthday– which will be the first time I am spending my birthday with my mother since December 13th, 1966. Life is good. It really is.

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Amos Lee at the 9:30 Club

November 5, 2008 at 1:07 pm (Uncategorized)

Between hours of canvassing, making phone calls and driving up and down mountain roads in Virginia, I squeezed in a concert at the 9:30 Club.
Amos Lee’s latest album “Last days at the Lodge” has been in heavy rotation on my iPod and seeing him live was a thrill. He’s a superb performer and together with a great band, they put on a fantastic show. He played all my favorite stuff, new and old including my new favorite groove “Won’t let me go”.. listen!
To my friend Leigh who convinced me to go with her, THANK YOU. We had both had a tough few days and walked away feeling energized and uplifted.

amos_lee-01

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Newport Folk Festival 2008

August 31, 2008 at 2:04 am (Willa travels)

Just returned from Newport- we had another wonderful year of music, gelato and sailing.  It was a great group of friends made even better by a couple of new additions, Leigh and Vida.  Leigh is one of my very favorite people to travel with because she’s SO easy going and fun– and she is game for anything.  She loved Newport just as much as I thought she would and though  she doesn’t share my absolute obsession with Music, she was totally into discovering new artists and wandering from Stage to Stage. Our other newbie was Vida– the only Irish/Italian Puerto Rican I know and a fellow music nut.  Vida is great– she has the best sense of humor and I love being around her. She’s also very forgiving when someone who should know better calls her an Irish Italian… What can I say, she’s so cool, she might  as  well be Italian.

This year, the festival had a very diverse array of artists, many of which did not fit with what is typically considered folk music. Words can’t really describe the venue where this festival is held .. Fort Adams is surrounded by water and during festival time, all sailboats within a 500 mile radius will anchor in the waters surrounding the fort creating an amazing scene.

Every year, I look for my favorite Sailboat- a two mast Schooner with Red Sails. I found out this year that it’s the Schooner Aurora and here it is!

Besides the amazing venue, the music is always wonderful and surprising. I was looking forward to seeing some artists I already knew, like Brandi Carlile who was just great. The festival often draws musical legends- this year, it was Richie Havens who took the stage with such presence it was impossible not to be amazed.

Some of the acts I hadn’t seen before but really liked included a quartet named Red Rooster- what a great group of musicians and great performers! Here is a soundbite of Red Rooster… And THEN, there was this kid from Hawaii who played the ukulele (yes, I said ukulele) ans was absolutely stunning! Leigh and I really enjoyed the crazy antics of the Avett Brothers…  strange and really fun.

There is always such a rich array of performances, spread out between three different stages giving an amazing variety of choices and making it hard not to miss anything remarkable. For the first time in YEARS we got rained on– a tremendous downpour that sent us running for the water taxi, soaking wet and cold but laughing all the way. I was pretty bummed about missing Saturday nights headliners, the Black Crowes… Next time, i am going to be prepared to stay, no matter how hard it rains. The musical lowlight of our trip was Jimmy Buffett– I can’t even believe he got invited to play and his music was just as underwhelming as I’d imagined. For whatever reason (I don’t think it was Buffett).. Newport was SO well attended and that makes me happy. I’d like to see the festival stay alive and thrive. 2009 is the 50th Anniversary and i can’t wait to see who is going to help celebrate. While Newport is mostly about music, we also make sure to have good fun and good food.  Spending four days surrounded by sailboats and music is just about as perfect as it gets.

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My Mothers Visit

July 27, 2008 at 2:59 pm (Friends And Family, Uncategorized)

It was great to have Grandma Monika visit with us for 10 days in June. As usual, she brought with her lots of energy, love, presents (including a great bag that I LOVE) AND her new soon to be husband, Francesco.

We were all a little nervous about meeting him since we are technically still getting to know my mother. Francesco stole our hearts within the first 2 days of him being here. He’s so sweet, easy going, curious, funny and clearly loves my mother– which made us all like him even more.

I still had to work for a few days once they arrived and our visitors toured Washington DC and the local area while I was at the office. They are both very adventurous and curious – a great match.

It was Francesco’s first visit to the US and I was concerned about showing him as much of America as i could. However, I was also completely exhausted from 6 months of traveling for work, putting in crazy hours and not getting a lot of rest. So, we decided to go the beach for a few days, to give everyone a chance to enjoy some downtime while still making sure that our Italian visitors experienced the US from the perspective of a “native”. I decided to rent a house in Bethany Beach, Delaware– the kids and I have been there many times when they were small and we made some great memories there. The house we rented was outside of Bethany and backing to the Bay and we really enjoyed listening to the birds and wildlife while still being close enough to the beach without needing to get in the car. We rented bicycles for everyone and it turned out that my mother had not been on a Bike in something like 30 years. She was a little nervous at first but by mid week, she was cruising around on her bike like an old pro. The three adults spent a relaxing week of reading, sleeping and drinking Coronas while the teenagers were off on their bicycles, looking for other teenagers.. We took several mini trips to surrounding villages with the highlight being a dolphin cruise I organized. The kids and I have done this many times but neither Monika or Francesco had ever seen a Dolphin in the open ocean before. It was SO cool to see their faces when the boat came to a stop in the open sea and the Dolphins started jumping out of the water, just a few feet away. Being a witness to their amazement made it that much better for us. The weather was perfect the entire week and when it got too hot, we retreated to our house for 2-3 hour siestas in the afternoon. .. Heaven!

I decided that i wanted to introduce our visitors to another East Coast City so we decided to head to Philadelphia “on the way home” (geography was never my strong suit).. We had a blast touring Philly in Duck Mobile– I thought my mother was going to have a heart attack when the driver started barreling into the Delaware River– that was SO cool. We also visited one of my very favorite places to see Art, the Barnes Foundation. It’s hard to describe the Barnes- it is probably the most exquisite private collection of impressionist period art, including over 150 Renoirs.. You have to see it to believe it. Here is a painting that my mother and I both loved:

We headed back to Frederick for our last weekend together and Amy and Shelley hosted a fantastic pool party which involved traditional American food, beer and a spirited water volleyball match.

We had a great visit and it was so nice to have an opportunity to continue to get to know my mother.

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