Calabrese people I meet

I have been home one  week now. I miss Calabria. I miss the walks I would take with members of my husbands family in the mornings and stopping at the end of the road to chat with an elderly man . He told us his name was Silvester. He was the only one in town with that name. He was a very young 87 years. Everyday we would learn more about him as would would speak to him through the mesh fence surrounding his garden. He spoke to us of his capture during the war in Tunisia by the Americans and sent to Kansas to work on the corn fields. He said it was difficult but never uttered a bad word about America or the Americans. 
There is the little market we would go to in the mornings. The woman who got to know me so well that she wrote down a wonderful recipe for me on making eggplant balls in stead of meat balls. Her conversations everyday telling me how she admired the fact I loved Calabria so much that I returned every year and this time with my husbands family. It made her orgogliosa!!! Which means proud. This trip was not just about the beauty of the sea and the little towns . This was also the beauty of the Calabrese people.