GABRI E MARI

Maria continued to collect the memories that hadn't been completely spoken of since, interjecting herself by offering more food to her granddaughter every so often. She spoke as if she was being asked to discuss a recipe. Her eyes have always been filled with a gentle touch; one would never know the reality of what they had really seen.

Every year an Italian tradition in some families is that they gather together and help make il vino.

...the wine.

The perfect grape is the first step to creating the perfect wine. It has to be picked during the right season otherwise it might be too sour or too sweet. Every year, Gabriele would together with his friends, search for the perfect bundle of grapes. They would all help set up the big wooden barrel that is masked with the smell of decades worth of aged wine. The rusted metal contraption gets harder to push back and forth as time goes on, but it's all worth it. With each push, and with each pull, Gabriele is reminded of the time back when he was ten years old, sitting around his dining room table with the Marshal and his father.

Not long after the war Gabriele and Maria fell in love. The inevitable reality, and incredibly cliché boy verses girl next-door romance. They both knew if they were to raise a family, to give them a better life than middle class Italian farmers, they would have to move. So Gabriele set afoot for Australia.

Shortly after Maria followed, leaving behind the town and family she loved. While Gabriele followed his family to the new country, then later bringing more to follow in his footsteps. He built a home to house his family to be, and married the love of his life.

Maria got married without her mother, without her sisters, and without her father to walk her down the aisle. She had cried on her wedding day, yearning for the excited support of her family that she would not be able to see for a few decades. She had no one at the time but her beloved husband. Then, shortly after, she fell pregnant with her first child. She had three in total, and became a dressmaker.

Maria finally started to become happy as she began to make Australia her home. Together with her husband and children they tended to their backyard and created a beautiful garden. They planted the seeds, and watered them with love. In a way she felt closer to her family back in Italy if she kept the traditions, hoping that one day with her own children she would never have to rip up their bed sheets and use them for clothing. That she would never have to be the mother to shelter her children behind her legs and give away her wedding ring. Though if she had to, she would do it in a heartbeat.

But there were trips back to the little house that sat atop the hill, and Maria and Gabriele were reunited with their siblings time and time again.