When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Limoncello: Social Graces

The boat ride back from Fornillo beach on warmer days.

by Jo Anne

"Mommy, why is that man in his underwear?!", Samantha asked with a giggle. We were on the beach and a man was standing in front of us wearing a small, older style, European bathing suit. I don't think he heard but she keeps us on our toes. If it's not Scarlet Letter style outings of people smoking cigarettes it's something else. Yesterday we were down in town and ran into one of our neighbors and his friend. We've spoken to him many times and I'm sure Samantha knows him. I think that his sunglasses threw her and so in the middle of the conversation she grabbed my hands and yelled "Who are these people?!" Social graces are obviously not big at age five. Sometimes instead of making me squirm though her offhand comments make me smile. The other day she said "Mom, God is really strong'." I agreed with her although I had no idea where it came from. I considered that was a rather deep thought for a five year old. She turned me around and pointed to a painting. "Look at the muscles on him!" she said. We were in an art gallery and she was looking at a painting of a very muscular Jesus being pulled from the tomb by two angels.

Today I risked social etiquette and spent a day on the town with the girls. Steve had gone into Sorrento, the closest city to us, to buy a new jacket. We somehow both lost our jackets on the flight over here. The sun was back after a week of rainy weather and so we walked down to the beach. I've realized that Positano is a small town. The first time that came to mind was when we came through the "Take Away Pizza" entrance of one of the local restaurants, a staple of ours now. We had been in there a few weeks earlier picking up pizzas for dinner on our way back from the beach. This time the woman at the counter remembered us and asked us where we were staying and where we were from. She recognized us and I guess was wondering what we were still doing here three weeks later! Our neighbor quoted a phrase "After ten days, people say hello." I suppose at that point they think you are not a tourist and are actually living here. One big truth is that the kindness of people here fits with what you would expect to find in a small town. You would think they would be tired of the tourists by now after a whole season of buses and cruise ships passing through. Instead they have been so gracious and welcoming.

On this walk around town with the girls we ran into one of our neighbors, another man we know from the snack bar on Fornillo beach, and last but not least Anotonello. He is the farmer we met while hiking up to Montepertuso about a month ago! He told us they will be harvesting the olives this Saturday and invited us to come join him. I'm very excited for that. Luckily, all that Samantha said was "Ciao"!