Can't Sleep

Yesterday was a really full day. Perhaps this is why I conked out so early and now I am up at the crack of dawn. So many of these past few days have been full, but yesterday was a bit of a preview for me of what my festa perhaps will consist of.

In Monte di Procida, the tradition is that when you are getting married, you go to each house of your invitees and hand deliver your invitations as a couple. Sometimes the sposo (the groom) can't partake in this because of work or more nowadays because he just doesn't want to, in which case, la sposa and her mother or mother-in-law go together. A large part of our wedding invitees are Mimmo's family (his father who's a Russo is one of 13 and his mother who's a Coppola is one of 6). Allora, Mimmo and I decided to go together on the vespa as this would be my first time meeting a lot of his aunts and uncles. We started with my favorite aunt, Zia Pina.

Zia Pina is married to Zio Umberto, a brother of Mimmo's dad. I love Zia Pina for a variety of reasons. Zia Pina is 10 years older then Zio Umberto. Zia Pina is a verace (real) Napoletana, meaning that she's not from Monte di Procida, but from the city of Napoli which is a whole 'nother story (think Danville vs. San Francisco or Long Island vs. The Bronx). Zia Pina and Zio Umberto adopted 2 girls and one of them had a daughter who just had a daughter. This granddaughter who now is a mom is very young...perhaps 16? And, so Zia Pina and Zio Umberto are pretty much raising their great-granddaughter together with their granddaughter as she's too young to understand the resposibilities of being a mom. Zia Pina dances. Zia Pina is 83 years old! Zia Pina rocks my world and I'm so glad she christened our delivering of the invitations by being first yesterday. "Am I invited? Really?," she joked.

Delivering these invitations was literally an entry into each and every household. All of them tried to offer us something to eat and/or drink ("No, thanks Zia Maria, really we've just had 5 coffees!"). Some of them showed me photographs; told me stories of Mimmo when he was young; and, asked un sacco di domande ( A LOT OF QUESTIONS) : Why did we choose "Sant'Anna" in Bacoli to do the weding? Why are we doing the reception at La Polena and not at Emilio's? Are we going to live here or in California? Are we planning to have kids right away? Do I understand Italian and dialect? What did I do for work? Am I catholic? What's the difference between Greek Orthodox and Catholic? How did we decided to invite the aunts and uncles and not the cousins? Do I like it here? Do I want another coffee?

This story about having kids is quite a funny one as I know, depending on how the question is asked, if what they're really trying to get at is "Are you pregnant?,". And, just for the record guys, because I know some of you have been thinking the same thing (you know who you are - mostly my own family :-), no, I'm not pregnant. I had to answer this question twice yesterday - once in front of Mimmo's whole family at lunch as Antonio, Mimmo's very blunt brother from New Jersey who just arrived, decided to ask me in a very loud and uncouth manner "So, what's the rush? are you guys gonna - boom - boom - boom start a family NOW?," as he pointed to his stomach and the rest of Mimmo's family stood still, waiting to hear the answer. Then when we went to Zia Velia and Zio Biagio's, Zia Velia said "Oh, well, now, this is a new thing. You guys never mentioned it when we saw you at the end of May. Had you decided then or had you just decided recently..." to which Mimmo replied "Lisa's not pregnant, Zia Velia, if that's what you're getting at," to which she was a bit embarrassed. We all just laughed it off and Zio Biagio smoothed it over by saying "Well, it would just be all the more beautiful if she was,". Uh, let me just get through getting married first, people! :-)

By 7:30 pm (we started around 3:00pm) we were almost finished. We just had 2 more Zias to go, but it was getting late and we decided to call it a night. So, today we'll finish the other 2 and I am off to the post office to mail the others to the states. The second part of the tradition is, instead of R.S.V.P.-ing ("What's that?," the guy asked me when I ordered the invitations) all the invitees come to your house to bring gifts, talk (ask more questions), have coffee, etc. and then they say whether they're coming or not. If you look at our invitation, you'll notice in the lower corners that there's 2 addresses - Mimmo's parents address is on the left and my mom's address is on the right. So, as soon as you get your invite, you better pop over to 916 Indian Rock and pay my mamma a visit - talk, ask loads of questions, drink lots of coffee, and say whether or not you'll make it not!