Il Vento Ululante

I sat up in bed and couldn’t figure out who was calling.  A quick glance at my iPhone and I knew it was a dark and windy 5:47 AM.  The wailing continued.  Then it became a moan – a grievous moan – a heart wrenching wail – the sound ebbed and flowed. It wasn’t Jack, he was still sleeping beside me.  Was it Zia Vittoria?  Was someone outside.  Than the moan stopped and the lilting soprano began.  Did I drink last night?  No.  Pain meds? No.  Then it hit me – the wind.

Yesterday afternoon, the rain had finally stopped.  It was chased from our hills by a ferocious wind. The minute the sun popped it’s almost forgotten face over the close-line, I threw a load of laundry in the machine.  Hanging the clothes out side on the line became a war – Midge against the wind.  Clothes flew out of my  hands and whipped down the lane.  Clothes wrapped and wrapped themselves around the line wringing themselves free of water but not wind.

Wind pummeled the mountain – but it was better than rain.  People are still cleaning up from the flood.  Road crews are slowly working on crumbled streets.  All of that is hard to do in rain.

I understand where my grandmother, aunts, uncles and father got their internal strength.  To live here you have to be able to adapt, to conquer and to understand that it takes a village working together to move the biggest boulders.  I do mean that literally too.

Gruppo Comunale Protezione Civile di Pontelandolfo – an all volunteer group – has moved some boulders.  When the rain stopped for a nano-second after flooding the hills, they went out and and did damage assessment – found the roads that had caved in or impassable, homes that were hit hard by the storms etc. They also have been collecting donations of food, water, cleaning supplies,clothes etc.  Then distributing them to the people who need them.   They have not only assisted here in Pontelandolfo but other communities as well.  My thanks to them and to the people all over the world who leap into the fray to help.

The wind may moan and scream here and in other parts of the world.  But working together we can all bring out the sun. Maybe even kick some political butt and slow down global warming….

Ci Vediamo.