We arrived in Greece on Yiorgos' birthday.
Yiorgos is my cousin, Jeanne's husband. For those of you who are unfamiliar with my side of the family, I'll provide a bit of background.
The grandpa (John Francis Burke) I referred to in one of my first posts is originally from Ballyshannon Ireland. He emigrated to the US in May of 1915 to avoid "fighting for the Crown" in World War I. Maybe my Aunt Bev can clarify more of the story for me (Bev?) but I think he headed to Chicago via Canada where he met my grandma, Lyna. They had five kids (four girls and one boy). One of the girls was my mom, Alberta, and the youngest girl was my aunt, Bev.
My mom had four kids, of which I am the youngest. My brothers like to say that I was an accident (she had me at the ripe age of 44) and I have recently reclaimed this moniker and directed it toward them as well, given that she was only 19 when she had them (they are twins and yes, they are 25 years older than me!?!).
At the same time that my mom was having me (surprise!) I was lucky enough that my aunt Bev was having her youngest (of seven!) as well. That surprise came to be my best friend, Jackie, whom I have known since I was seven months old. We grew up only a block from each other for much of my early childhood and then lived together in college and have stayed close.
Her nearest sibling is Jeanne who was a bit older than us and introduced us to all of the joys of life from a slightly older perspective (she is just a few years older than me, but got to all of the fun stuff before Jackie and I, so she helped us along, so to speak. As an example, let's just say that Jackie never had to worry about her 21st birthday as she passed for Jeanne ever since she was 16).
Jeanne, a seeker of adventure, left the US after college to explore the world. She ended up meeting Yiorgos and marrying. They settled in Arta, Greece and have had three kids who are all nearly grown: Marina (who will be 23 soon and is a student in Scotland), Nicolas (who will soon be 20 and is heading into the Merchant Marines) and Paris (who I think is 16 and is in high school).
So that's the bit of background.
Jeanne's family is lovely and it is always great to see them. I've only been to Arta once, and while she has been back to the US more than that, it is still a very special occasion and her kids seem to grow in little leaps from that perspective. I've seen Paris at age 1, age 9 and now age 16.
We arrived in Igoumenitsa early in the morning on Saturday. Yiorgos and Nick picked us up -- Jeanne teaches English both at a school in Arta and in private lessons and would have been working had she not wrenched her back preparing for our visit. As soon as we walked off the boat I saw Yiorgos waving to us from across the way. I would recognize his confident, peacock walk and outgoing, gregarious wave in a crowd. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture of this moment for you. After travels, it is always great to see family.
We drove the the hour and a half home, half terrified, half thrilled as we all crammed into what would be a four-seater in the US and Yiorgos' confidence extends to his driving.
Much of the route was along the Ionian Sea.
This was the first time I saw their new house as in 1997 they lived in the town of Arta. It was incredible.
And the city of Arta itself. So lovely.
We took a short walk. It was sunny and warm. A welcome relief to the miserable Irish weather. We saw more orange trees, a crop of what will be mandarin orange trees, kiwi trees and a snail farm!
Johnny immediately found Nick and Paris' awesome hangout in the basement, filled with loads of cool boy things, the highlights of which included table-tennis and a drum set.
The Greeks have this great practice of spending 3 to 5 p.m. resting, napping, or just plain quiet time. So Johnny had to quit the drums for a while and Jeanne took us into town for a little look around at the major Arta sites as her boys had a rest.
This is all for another post.
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