Perks

Perks

or unexpected aspects of what happened.

Well, not exactly a perk but a way of looking at the positive side of having broken my leg.

My computer screen, in addition to the usual trademark Apples, accompanies them with the words “We love you”, a reminder of the presence of my sons. Thanks to them, I can always find something to smile about.

Thank heaven both my sons have a marked sense of humor and can be very witty. True, sometimes it is their mother they are making fun of. Even after over 60 years in Italy speaking Italian I have not mastered some of the double consonants. Some, yes, like the sound of the vowel as in seta versus setta. But never have gotten right, either in pronunciation or writing, the double consonants in capelli or cappelli. Always have to look them up when I’m writing. There are of course other kinds of problems for those learning English, often depending on the context and how words spelled alike are used or those with similar pronunciations. Row and row. Or bow and bow and then bough.

Looking out the window, hoping for the birds, I see the fog not quite enveloping Orvieto and can’t help but think of Robert Frost – no, Carl Sandburg, the poet who also had a farm with Toggenburg goats. I’ve always loved his poem, as I do Wordsworth’s daffodils. The fog comes in on little cat feet, it sits looking over the harbor and city on silent haunches and then moves on. Orvieto’s harbor is the valley as it looks down from its rock.

But back to talking about humor and certain advantages (which oddly enough do exist) of having broken my leg and now being entrusted to the care of my two sons. If I hadn’t had that unfortunate accident, I wouldn’t have been aware of their laughter as they prepare me for the night. I’m rolled over on one side, facing the wall, and suddenly can feel the bed shaking. They have shared some joke about what they are doing. Or perhaps about me or when they were kids. And then when they are preparing lunch or dinner, I can hear them laughing in the kitchen. And I am thankful they seem to get along so well after years that they only saw each other every now and then. Now if I go online, I find a plethora of books and articles on parenting. How odd I think for I never thought about preparing my children for the future by enrolling them in the best kindergartens and universities. I was working and they had their playmates, and their future was already in their hands. Well, yes, there was a problem when my parents turned up, and I do thank them for having taught them English, but also found I had to protect my children from an overly authoritative grandfather. They managed pretty well on their own though, and when my younger son wanted to take archery lessons, his grandfather was told he had extra homework in the afternoons.

And then there are the many friends and acquaintances who seem to appear on every street corner. Some I hadn’t thought about for ages. But I exist in their memories, and I am still around to enhance them, just as they are there somewhere in mine. All it needs is a breeze to ruffle the leaves.

So I can’t say I’m glad I broke my leg, but learning to see the positive aspects is in itself something to be treasured.