Sat the 20th of Jun – V for Velina

Italian Shows fascinate me. The older average looking male presenter is always accessorized with at least one “Velina” (Starlet). It seems the ambition of many an Italian girl to be the show’s eye candy poorly disguised as assistants. Ironically, it’s the foreign girl that has most success (for lack of a better word). And so Scandinavian Victoria Silvstedt’s perfect apple shaped bum regularly teases the audience in “Wheel of Fortune”as the camera shoots her, from a most compromising angle, twirling around in her undersized dress. She has big blond hair, big blue eyes, big pink lips, big bosom. In short, she’s big in all the “right” places squeezed into an XXXS dress. For one whole hour, this Beautiful Bodacious Blond Blue eyed Blow up Barbie, struts provocatively, on her very high heals, up and down the stage. As a kid, following Oma’s example, I would religiously watch “Wheel of Fortune” in the Netherlands. Massive cubes would light up each time a contestant guessed the right letter. An average to cute girl named Leontine or Wendy would walk towards these heavy blocs and flip them over thus revealing the letters. It always seemed that a fair degree of effort was needed in this operation and sometimes, if she didn’t push hard enough, she’d have to return as graciously as her eighties sparkling electric blue dress with huge shoulder pads would allow while the presenter made thinly veiled condescending remarks. Today Victoria ever so lightly touches the electronic screen to uncover the letters. She smiles and is completely impervious to the presenter’s lame chauvinistic jokes for the simple reason that she doesn’t understand a word he says.

The personal lives of these Velinas is a national pastime. One, my father unashamedly shares with millions of other Italians. His level of detail is impressive right down to whose boobs are real and whose aren’t. Victoria’s are, not surprisingly, fake.

Mara and Mom strongly disapprove while Dad and I enjoy the show in exaggeration. Dad guesses the sentences instantly and I get carried away cheering every time the contestants spin the wheel…

Our days go by tranquilly and Mar takes her job of eating and sleeping very seriously. At snail speed, she recovers from the chemo. She still suffers from nausea and lack of energy. She still hangs over her plate, forcing herself to eat and apologizing while her elbow rests on the table. She takes a few bites, nauseous, gets up and heads straight to bed for a “power nap”. In the beginning, unsure of how to behave, we watched her, puzzled, as she unexpectedly and wordlessly got up and hit the pillow. After literally 2-3 minutes, she dragged herself out of bed again and resumed eating. It’s almost funny. Now we reassure her: “Take all the time you need Mar. No hurry. Whenever you’re ready come back for a few more bites.” We also coax her to take walks. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. We all know not to push her. Mara does an excellent job and will not be pressured. She marches to her beat and to her beat alone. We learned since November to respect this and march right by her side.