Saturday the 25th of Apr – Protecting our investment

Dad bumped into Professor Martelli yesterday. The Professor immediately recognized him and addressed him more as one father to another. He repeated that although Mar’s situation is difficult, there is hope. I think Dad really appreciated this gesture. While chatting in bed, it makes Mar and I reflect on these past few days. We come to the conclusion that Professor Martelli really believes his treatment can make a difference. He has complete faith where the Dutch decided Mar's Return On Investment is too low! This makes us laugh. Harsh but real. Ultimately Mar knows she will overcome this. That’s all that matters.

Since there is a good chance I will be Mar’s donor, Mom uses this as even more ammunition to make me eat healthier. Eat more vegetables and fruit, she tirelessly preaches! Every opportunity she gets on the phone is one to reinforce this message. In fact she even gets Dad to send her sms reports of our daily dietary regime…Moms will be moms.

Mar takes it one step further and jokes that I’m eating for two now! I retort by resorting to the classic guilt trip: “You better be nice to me Mar, I’m giving you my stem cells!”

We slept well last night although we’re not sure if the walls are thin or if our neighbors are just loud. It’s probably both. This is the first day since the beginning of our Italian mission that we can sleep in and relax. It’s been exhausting not as much physically as it has mentally. I dare anyone to deny that even the most loving of families know moments of irritation among its members…Mildly put of course! I’m sure you can also appreciate that Mar, Dad and I all have very different characters. Under stress, we each have our own ways to calm ourselves. Dad gets restless, a little more talkative and is constantly on the move. Mar achieves relaxation by overdosing on cappuccinos, reading and making intelligent remarks on the articles being read. My symptoms manifest in a dangerous drop of my patience level, heightened snappiness and solitude is desperately needed to recharge. Clearly our M.O.s far from complement each other and it becomes even less bearable when on each other’s lip 24/7.

Thankfully, in most cases two of us will clash while the 3rd acts as a mediator/translator in the event of miscommunication. So we take turns. It also helps that our family manages to diffuse stressful situations with humor and so Dad may explode one minute, the next he’ll crack a joke and make us smile.

Our irritations while frequent never last long.

Dad saw little Chiara this morning too. Behind her mask she breathes like the great great great granddaughter of Darth Vader. It doesn’t seem to bother her and she happily trots around under the constant watchful eyes of at least 2 adoring adults.

We have lunch in town again today. It’s a beautiful day. After lunch, we stroll about before installing ourselves on a sunny terrace overlooking the hills. Dad leaves us to run some errands, Mar has her cappuccino and reads the Economist, I soak up the sun and silently enjoy the view…Bliss!