Daniel J. Paul

In previous articles, I have covered multiple topics, ranging from self-help/self-awareness, travel, children, patriotism and family. Today will be focused on family, essentially my mom, as Mother’s Day is Sunday.

For my family, this true story began decades ago. When my mother was a small girl growing up in Caspian, her parents — Joseph and Palmina Bottea, who emigrated from Italy — would talk about their lives in the small villages, only 2 kilometers apart, nestled in the Italian Alps. These stories ignited a huge interest in my mother, but it increased with her parents teaching her to speak and write the Italian language in their home.

This combination proved to be transformational for her, because as time passed, she began to reach out through letters, in the Italian language, and photographs to our relatives in Italy. As our relatives responded back and forth to these letters, the bond deepened.

Eventually, that led to her traveling to Italy to meet our family. While there, she met many of the relatives with whom she had corresponded over the years. Immediately, a huge emotional bond of love and acceptance was displayed.

This forged an unbreakable connection that oceans could not separate.

However, she did not stop there, as this bond of family love inspired her to forge a new connection between her children and our relatives in Italy. Her dream was fulfilled as she accompanied me on my first trip back in 2003.

Over the years, I and some of my children have traveled to the little villages nestled in the Alps, and they in turn have visited us here as well. We have also discovered the identical heartfelt connection that my mother felt — our relatives have been welcoming and loving beyond all human expectations. With open hearts and homes, they have given us a place to belong. The bond of love between us is as deep as the roots of a centuries-old vine.

My mother’s love and legacy was to connect our family with our Italian relatives; but with Mother’s Day here, we recognize that many families have other, often untold, stories honoring the loving care provided by their mothers. Please share those tales, hopes, and dreams with your children and grandchildren, so that they will not be lost to the drifting sands of time.

God bless all mothers — and amore (love) to all my Italian relatives.