Spetses, part 2

 

At a quiet cove called Garyfalos, down a dusty path from Spetses town, a group of elderly couples, copper-skinned and bobbing in the aquamarine far offshore, provide a seamless cackle--of family news, the cost of vegetables, the indignities of their shadow state--all the while presenting a lovely image of grace and beauty through agelessness. In short order, they have become Jonathan's role models--aging with dignity, joy, and abundant laughter.

 

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A small cloud appeared today, a speck amid the panorama of cobalt sky, a mere irreverent puff, a fleeting reminder that summer, in fact, is not a permanent or irrevocable condition.

 

My maternal grandmother, Evstathia, was born on this little island (8 miles long, 4 miles wide) in the Saronic Gulf in 1899. She escaped "poverty" and a kind of familial misery borne of a mean and jealous stepmother, leaving in 1912 with an elderly aunt, bound for America for what was advertised as a short stay. The German U-boats had another idea and her short stay lasted 81 years. She met my grandfather, another economic migrant from Greece; the two married and finally returned to their homeland in the mid-1920s, then again in the early 1950s, and one last time in 1966. The impoverished land of her birth was transformed in the ensuing years into a kind of Hellenic Riviera, where several residents arrive in private helicopters, yachts, and high-speed boat taxi from the mainland. In the interim, she willfully abandoned a piece of family land that became a multimillion-dollar slice of Mediterranean waterfront. But her happiness was counted in grandchildren, reams of laughter, and inexplicably fine cooking skills...

 

 Jonathan completed the unlikely circle in 1979, a nineteen year old arriving by slow ferry from the port of Pireaus to find his "roots"--now deep, well-watered, and prolific. The "roots" notion is a bit discredited in his jaded mind, but it works by way of explanation. Jonathan soon learned that he could study classics in Athens during the week, and enjoy this special place on the weekends. And from that routine, some special family relationships were rekindled. For Greeks, there can be nothing more annoying than a long-lost relative from the New World coming "home" to claim what is "rightly" his (or hers). Jonathan never followed that singular approach--as a result, these aforementioned relationships are enduring, genuine, and greatly valued. He likes to think, from both sides.

Tina, the bride-to-be, and Jonathan are second cousins. (Her grandfather and his grandmother were siblings one hundred years ago. Hence the connection and the reason for his presence for this very special day.

More pictures from today's perambulations follow. Wedding pics will follow in the next day or so.