Η Σελίδα σας (Απρίλιος 2021)
Posted by estiator at 16 April, at 08 : 50 AM Print
Iraklis C. Livas,
MD Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, PSC
Lexington, KY
The Little Americans
They called us the Little Americans. The colorful, sun-washed houses lined the gravel road as we made our way through the village. Faces, wrinkled and ex-pressive with our native features, peeked out to see us. They saw our father and beamed with the knowing joy of seeing a long-lost friend. “Irakli!” they called out in exuberant reunion. For us, they reserved expressions of interest, wonder, and suspicion. We must have looked quite different, in our blue puffer jackets and jeans.
We finally arrived home, at a home that was not our home. The grape vines hung over the patio, mercy from the unyielding sun. The first floor was the conve-nience store, brimming with all the treats we could imagine, plus some yet unimagined. Our grandmoth-er told us to take anything we wanted. Music to our ears. I filled my arms with chocolate croissants, juice, oregano chips, and filled bubble gum. The tastes of our second home.
The stairs led up to the living room and the bedro-oms. The blankets itched. They were probably ma de of handmade wool, something we weren’t used to. Iraklis C. Livas, MD Allergy, Asthma & Immunology, PSC Lexington, KY My sister once broke a glass figurine. When we told my grandmother, she did not admonish us. Instead, she grabbed another one and smashed it on the floor. “Then pirazi!” she said with a laugh. “It doesn’t mat-ter!”
We spent much of our day lazing on the couch, wishing we were somewhere else and playing on our phones. As one does, when one is that age. But we still remember. We remember the late night panegirie that kept us up in the wee hours, where the villagers partied like the world was ending. We remember our grandfather’s strong embrace as he lifted us out of the back of his pickup truck to see the pigs, lambs, and goats. We remember eating our grandmother’s cooking on the patio together, never able to finish the feast before us. We remember walking around the mountain village, at home but not quite at home. We will always remember.
Athie Livas
Yale Law School
Η καινούργια αυτή στήλη, θα φιλοξενεί δικά σας έργα τέχνης, ζωγραφική, φωτογραφίες, ποιήματα (δα χτυ λο γραφημένα) και εικαστικά. Παρακαλούμε αποστείλατε υλικό στο email μας estiator@estiator.com για την στήλη “Η ΣΕΛΙΔΑ ΣΑΣ”.
ΕΠΙΜΕΛΕΙΑ ΣΤΗΛΗΣ: ΒΙΚΥ ΤΣΑΒΑΛΙΑ
