My Sicilian Friend Teresa

Tomorrow is my friend Teresa’s birthday and I wish I could be in Sicily to celebrate with her in person! Teresa is a teacher and was wonderful enough to open her home to me twice, once in 2009 when I was traveling with my friend Sue, and this past May when I visited her with my brother and sister-in-law.

I am hoping that next summer she will travel to the US for the first time and stay with me for awhile, although I know she will want to travel the country and see the places she has only known in photos and television.

She has been studying English, much like I studied Italian, in an attempt to be able to better understand and speak the language of another country. She says it is “molto difficile” and I understand because I thought studying Italian was also “molto difficile.”

Teresa is the older sister of my good friend Angela and we have been emailing each other for years before we ever met for the first time in 2007. We actually met on genealogy boards because they both have the same name as my mother’s maiden name, Savoca, and my grandparents were from the same village in Sicily, Cesaro, a small village where you can see sheep walking in the road. Their relatives as well as mine all settled in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1900’s. I still think we may be related although to date I have been unable to confirm this fact, despite continued research at the genealogy library.

Buon compleanno Teresa, and I hope to see you soon, my friend!