Love is in the air

Yes indeed, love is in the air. I am not talking about me. I am talking about my wonderful friends Angelo Gambino and Franci (Francesca) Bianci. On October 15th, I was honored, yes truly honored, to be a guest at their wedding in Palermo.

Fran and I met Angelo on our trip to Istanbul. He was the guy that kept giving me the elbow to get in line to get on the bus to go to the airplane in Palermo as we were leaving. Of course I was not giving him my elbow in return. All good fun. He was also the guy who reclined his seat so that it would break my knees on the flight to Rome, where we changed planes for Istanbul. At the time, we had only been in Italy for five months, so I did not have a full range of curse words to use with him, but I used what I could.

He is also the guy who, when we got to Istanbul, found out that people did not speak Italian, and asked if he and his friend Marco could tour with us, so that we could act as translators. The most fun was watching Angelo bargain. He would change from Dollars to Italian Lira to Euros to Turkish Lira in seconds. If the merchant offered in Turkish Lira, Angelo would counter in Euros. If the merchant then countered in Euros, Angelo would come back with dollars. When it got close, Angelo had a pat line. 'I am Italian. Yes, I am Sicilian. Yes, I am from Palermo. Yes, my name is Gambino. Yes, I am mafia. Now give me a better price.' The line was great, but it rarely worked. When the sale was done, Angelo always had the merchant throw in a little something as a gift - a key chain or a pin or whatever. It was a great trip, and after coming back, we developed a fast and close friendship, and I almost feel like a member of his family now.

Speaking of his family, I should at least show you a picture of them. That is his mother on the left, and his dad, whom I did not get a really good picture of, on the right, getting ready to go to the wedding.











This is a picture of his brother Claudio, and his sister Antonella. Antonella is pretty enough to be a model, or a letterina on one of the Italian quiz shows. She got married last year to Massimo, who seems like a great guy. That was a big fancy church wedding. Angelo and Franci's wedding was a small municipal affair, and they will probably have the big church wedding in the fall.

Of course we can not forget Franci's family, whom I met for the first time at the wedding. They had apparently heard much about me, and were pleased to meet me finally. Of course I had also heard a great deal about them, and it was wonderful to share the occasion with them.

After the wedding, we went to a bar for coffee and a snack, and that evening we got together for a really wonderful and festive meal near Piazza Gaspari in Palermo. It was truly a wonderful time.

Above I mentioned that I was truly honored to attend this wedding. There were only 12 people at the wedding, at 14 at the dinner in the evening. Everyone else was a member of the families; a parent, a brother or sister, an in-law, or a niece. I was the only one that was not biologically or matrimonially a part of the family. And yet, everyone did make me feel a part of the family. That is a great feeling of honor.

The Gambinos are truly special people. They were helpful when Fran was ill in the hospital, bringing her some things she needed, and they have been helpful to me since then. I see Angelo about once a month, and he and Franci have visited me here for weekends several times.

Once again, I am truly blessed to have friends like them, and I wish them tanti tanti tantissimi auguri as they walk on the path to wedded bliss.