Sunday December 8, 2019
Partly Cloudy 60°F/16°C in Roma, Lazio, Italia
Buonagiornata,
 |
| Alexander Botula |
In my travels to Rome, I’ve
always gone onto explore most of Italy. Hence, I’ve been enchanted by Firenze,
Venezia, Pisa, Milano and, yes …. even Napoli. I’ve walked along La Via Appia
and visited ancient Paestum, a hardy survivor of Magna Graecia, and visited
the notorious World War Two battlefields of Salerno, Anzio and Montecassino.
But, from the moment Michael and Laura told Annamaria and Sergio and me about
the blessed event they were anticipating in November, I knew that major changes
were coming to my gad-a-bout scheduling. MAJOR changes were in store for
Michael and Laura, too! The memory of what my cousin, Mary Duffy said all those
years ago to Donna and I came flooding back to me now.
Donna and I had just made one of
our career moves to San Francisco. It was 1966. The Summer of Love. I
had just taken the Program Director’s job at KFOG radio, when it was still
located at Ghirardelli Square. Donna would soon get a job at the BBDO
Advertising Agency at 650 California Street. It was before our Dana or Michael
made their appearance, and we thoroughly lived the San Francisco life for a
full year. I realized that my cousin Mary Duffy lived in San Francisco orbit
nearby with her husband, Tom Walker. (In the Botula family, the cousins were
always referred to by their family name, so the other cousins could keep track
of them). I called Mary and invited she and Tom to join us for dinner at
Fisherman’s Wharf. It was on our post-prandial stroll around the area, when
Mary uttered those immortal words. Enjoy it now, Mike and Donna! She
said. Because when your kids start coming along, these carefree days are
going away for a L-O-N-G time. You’ll be old and gray before you have the world
to yourselves again! Mary was right. Dana was born in 1969 and Michael was
born in 1973. Life, as we knew it in our carefree days together, ended with our
first diaper change. But, as I hasten to add since, I know that Alexander will
read this someday. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life with children is
to be savored, because they grow up much too fast!
So, I am reliving those times
through Michael and Laura. True, it impacts on Nonno, as well, because
if their focus is totally consumed by their new son, this will impact as well
on the people who have been free up to now, to simply drop in for a visit. It’s
a whole new ball game for them as well. How I wish Donna could be here to share
in the moment. (We divorced in 2003. A few years later, she was diagnosed with
cancer and died in 2010). But, at moments like this, my cousin Mary Duffy’s
words ring down through the years. But, back to the present!
 |
| RUB A DUB, DUB! |
I missed Alexander’s birth by a
week, but I have been here for many of his small, but important milestones
since, most notably his first bath. Laura and Michael have spared no expense in
seeing that their son has all the right equipment. That includes his
bathinette. It’s literally a tiny bathtub on wheels. From their son’s equipment
room, my son rolled it into the kitchen, where the infant Botula would get
his first wash down. Even before Alexander was brought in, Michael carefully
measured the warm water for the first bath, and repeatedly took its temperature
with a special, stainless steel thermometer. Finally, after all the
preparations of Dr. Michael DeBakey’s surgical team preparing for a heart
transplant…Laura brought the baby into the operating theater. All that was
missing were the surgical gowns, masks and rubber gloves! Layers of baby
clothes quickly disappeared as did the diaper, which Alexander was not quite
done with. Uh, ONE and Uh, TWO! Alexander used his diaper for the final time
and was quickly committed to the warm water. The experience of his first dunking
immediately elicited squawks of disapproval from the infant. I was present with
my cellphone camera at the ready, ever mindful of the potential for future
embarrassment once the baby Alexander had reached maturity and the inevitable
baby-picture displays by his parents. So, I have chosen one, carefully cropped
photo to accompany this blog.
Alexander was born on November
14, 2019 at Oespedale San Camillo, in Roma. It’s the majorhospital in
Italy’s government health care system, where babies are born – at least in
Rome. Laura was born there, and now her son. Laura’s sister, Chiara, had her
little girl, Noemi there as well. So, for the patriarch of the Tomei family,
Sergio, it has meant a lot of visits to San Camillo over the years. The
front of the hospital is marked by greetings of well-wishers spray-painted,
graffiti-style across the façade. Sergio and I posed for a photo in 2017 when
Chiara and Maurizio’s Noemi was born in the same hospital as her little cugino
was born. Oespedale San Camillo is not a birthing center as
Americans would understand the term. It is a specialty hospital, operated by
the government, where Italian babies are born. It is a full-service hospital
with surgical suites and neonatal intensive care units. Such care for newborns has
resulted in Italy’s low infant mortality rate worldwide. (5.5 per thousand
versus the USA’s 6.5 per thousand).
 |
| Sergio and MikeBo |
So, I return to my original
point: I’m not gallivanting around Italy much on this trip. I’m trying to stay
close to my new grandson without becoming a pest to his parents. I recall when
Dana was born in 1969, my mother-in-law traveled all the way from Illinois to
southern California to help out, then announced that she would stay
until our baby girl was Baptized in the Catholic Church! (Oh, the joys
of a religiously mixed marriage). That’s why I have one daughter who’s
Catholic, and a son who’s a nominal Methodist. (When Michael was born, my mother-in-law
was too ill to make the trip). So, I am pretty much on my own this trip. I am
getting reacquainted with my friends from my previous trips, and yesterday,
bought a slew of biglietti so I can travel by myself on Rome’s Metro
e Autobus system.
I’ve reconnected with Marsha de
Salvatore, the Grande Comedienne of Rome’s Comedy Club, where she
performs as Marsha Cincinnati. In fact, I brought her a big jar of Melatonin
Gummies to help her sleep. I ran into Marsha at a Louis C.K. performance during
my first week in Rome. The comic has come to Rome, trying to make a comeback
after a disastrous encounter with the Me Too movement!
 |
Amina
|
Next time. Two turkeys, as we ex-pats celebrate Thanksgiving.
Ciao,
MikeBo
[Mike Botula, the author of LST
920: Charlie Botula’s Long, Slow Target! is a retired broadcast journalist,
government agency spokesperson and media consultant. Mike’s book is available from Amazon Books.
You can read more about Mike Botula at www.mikebotula.com]
© By Mike Botula 2020
No comments:
Post a Comment