Fede e Bambini, Faith and Children

Children are absolutely cherished in Italy. Everything stops when an infant or small child comes into the bar where I have coffee each morning. The ladies, one in particular, make a huge fuss talking to, and playing with, the little ones. Parents here are incredibly patient and tolerant. The waiter, for example, often sits in the café’ with his little boy and they play together; games, action figures, cars, whatever. He will patiently get up and walk around the table to pick up the Black Power Ranger action figure time and again as it falls to the floor. I must admit that after about 2 times I’d have made the little one pick it up himself. I laugh to hear the range of sound effects that little guy makes while playing, including a rather disturbing, deep, gruff voice. He is 100% B O Y! I’ve also watched as the waiter stands by patiently, back turned, while the little boy sits on a step behind him pitching a little fit. I could learn a lot about patience from the Italians, and it makes this one man, in particular, much more attractive to me.

In spite of the love Italians bestow about their little ones, I am amazed by what I perceive as a lack of safety consciousness when it comes to traveling by car. I often see toddlers and even infants sitting on a parent’s lap or moving around the car unrestrained, something which is a rare sight, although not unheard of, in the United States. I was horrified to see a pre-school aged child standing unrestrained in the front seat of a small car, hands on the dash board, as the mother careened down via Roma’s hill in the dark. Had a car pulled out from a side street causing her to slam on the brakes, that beautiful child would have flown through the windshield, something which still makes the hair on my neck stand up when I think about it. I have also witnessed a toddler, no helmet, being held in front of an adult on a motorcycle. While this biker was in the center of town and driving very slowly, bikers tend to drive extremely fast here and often down the center line between lanes of traffic. I tend to say a little prayer and avert my eyes when I see such risks being taken with small children as it truly terrifies me.

I walked down via Roma to take my trash to the dumpster last night at about 10:30 and was rewarded with a gift. There are a number of sewer openings covered with thick metal bars along the center of the downward sloping streets in town and to either side of every gate in the city walls. I stepped to the right side of the gate at the foot of via Roma, to let a car precede me, and looked down toward the gutter to see, of all things, money. Twenty-four American dollars, folded together in three separate piles, just lying atop the grating! It hasn’t rained in about a week, nor has it been windy, so how the money came to be lying there in plain view is a mystery for which I am very thankful. I gratefully took it as a sign of abundance from the Universe. The money was there only for me to find as a demonstration that I will thrive financially. Although I have no income now, this incredible experience will open new doors, financial and otherwise, for me. I need only to demonstrate gratitude, have faith, and continue to grow and learn. I am sure love will find me one day too.