We woke this morning to POURING rain. I’m sensing a trend here. We had a reservation at the Vatican for 10 am. So we left the apartment about 9 and fought the rush hour metro to get to the Vatican. Because we were mainly there to see the Sistine Chapel and St Peters we walked quickly through the other art works. I wish we had more time there, but it just wasn’t possible because we needed to get back to the apartment to pack and prepare to meet the Pignottis at 3ish.
The Sistine Chapel was much better on this visit because the restoration was complete. It is still such an amazing site to see. My favorite is not the ceiling, but rather the Last Judgment. It also wasn’t nearly as crowded this time as it was when I was here in 1999. We followed a Rick Steves tip and slipped out the side door that leads straight to St Peters without having to go back through the rest of the Vatican. St Peters was so beautiful. But they were still preparing for Christmas. They were cleaning the main alter and were setting up the manger scene. And the Christmas tree in St Peters square wasn’t complete either. I wish we could see it all complete. Perhaps next trip!
Due to the pouring rain, we splurged for a taxi back to the apartment. It was well worth the 8 euros. By this time, I was feeling pretty sick with a sore throat, so Byron took the lead on packing and the boys straightened the apartment. Bless their hearts!
Promptly at 3, Toni (a friend of the Pignottis that speaks English) called to say they had arrived at San Giovanni in Laterno, a church at the end of our street which was our meeting point. So we ventured out into the once again pouring rain. We quickly realized that San Giovanni was bigger than we thought and we weren’t sure where the front was. So we walked THROUGH the church. And as soon as we walked out the door I saw Melissa, the Mom.
Oleg was next, and my goodness, this boy is HUGE. He has to be at least 6 foot 3 at this point. And he is sooo handsome. And Ivan, who used to be like a twin to Nicholaus has also grown so much. He and Nicholaus don’t really look alike anymore. After a brief round of hugs and kisses, Toni suggested we go to find Quinto, the Dad, who had stayed with the van. Nicholaus and Max walked ahead with Toni and Oleg and Ivan walked with Me, Melissa, and Byron. I knew the boys (my boys that is) must be a little nervous.
We quickly went back to the apartment to load our bag and then we were on our way to the Abruzzi region, which we knew would be about a 2 hour drive by car. Melissa clearly thinks I know more Italian than I do as evidenced by how quickly and how much she talks directly to me in Italian. This makes me nervous b/c I’m only getting a few words of what she says. During the drive, the boys sat in the back and looked at photos on Oleg and Ivan’s cell phones and digital cameras. And there was some discussion in 2 different languages that I’m not sure either boy got. I could tell my boys were starting to warm up a little bit, thank goodness. It’s so funny that Oleg is so interested in Zack Efron, from High School Musical. He has a photo he took of himself in which he thinks he looks just like him. It’s very cute. I hope that isn’t what he thinks American boys aspire to though.
We stopped for bathroom break after about an hour and the boys had a good round of punching each others arms (lovingly of course). Melissa and I talked some in the car ride. She explained that she was an only child and that her mother became blind when she (Melissa) was 8 years old. She and Quinto married about 18 years ago. She also told me about how large their extended family was. She has, I think, about 17 cousins. And Quinto, being the 5th (hence the name Quinto—which means fifth) of 7 children also has a large family.
Then we arrived to the Pignotti home. We had seen photos of it. But Quinto had decorated the palm trees for Christmas, and it really is beautiful. Melissa’s father, Mario, met us at the door and welcomed us in. Well, the 4 dogs welcomed us first, but you know what I mean. Melissa showed us around the house. It is such an interesting design, which I gather is typical for this area, b/c their house looks like all the others in the area. It is essentially three apartments stacked on top of each other. Although it appears that the main floor is the main living area. Melissa’s parents’ bedroom and the main kitchen and living room are on that floor. The second floor contains another small kitchen and living room and the bedroom of the boys and Melissa and Quinto. And the third floor is smaller, but similar design---no one lives there now.
Melissa quickly set about to preparing dinner. And oh my goodness it was so good. It was bread, salami, prosciutto, and various cheeses. It was delicious. Quinto also had a bottle of his wine on the table and we finished with a drink of lemoncello, also made my Melissa. Thankfully Toni stayed for dinner, so we could have some conversation. Then it was time for gifts. The Pignotti’s gave the boys some lovely bracelets, Byron a nice leather wallet, and me a beautiful set of handmade table linens. It was very nice. And we shared the gifts we had brought them from NC. The boys then went upstairs to play and the conversation slowly turned toward the boys’ lives in Ukraine. We had brought with us the photos the Ukrainian Grandmother had sent to us when we contacted her several years ago. There were photos of the parents, aunts, uncles, and other family, as well as photos of the boys’ first home, and grandparents homes. They are not easy photos to look at. So we asked if they would like to see them. So we then spent some time sharing the information with them that we had. Like us, they were happy to have a copy of the only baby photo that exists of our children. And it was validating to hear that all of our boys have very similar memories of the events of their childhood. I won’t share them here, b/c it isn’t necessary. But I will just say that these boys have survived an entire lifetime before their adoptions.
All this time the boys are upstairs just looking around the boys’ rooms and playing Playstati0n.
Shortly after dinner, we headed to bed. The boys called rooms—Ivan and Max would sleep together tonight and then the rotation would begin. And so as they are now in bed, they are talking just as if they completely understand each other despite the fact that they share NO common language at all. It really is amazing. It really is amazing.
These photos were taken by Nicholaus in the back of the van. Taking pictures was the last thing on my mind. More later. The first is Oleg. The second is Ivan.
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