Forever grateful, never forgotten, their bravery in every heartbeat.

1918, Romano d’Ezzelino, Treviso, Italy. A year and a place not to be forgotten by our little family.

Giuseppe and Regina were in love, they had got married before WW1 and still had no children. They loved the place they lived, everything about it. Their relatives lived in the same town and some of them in the near little cities in the area. Their town was a small one, at the foothills of Monte Grappa. The countryside there was amazing. The climate a lovely one. Who would ever think of leaving it?

They did. Giuseppe had been called to join the army during the war. He went through many struggles while serving. His life had changed, as everyone’s around him. Many people lost loved ones, entire families destroyed. That’s war. It leaves scars on everyone involved. Physical scars but also the scars that cannot be seen, the ones carried in the soul. Carrying many of those scars, Giuseppe and Regina decided to take a ship to America in 1918 to start a new life.

They were not allowed to stay in USA so the ship continued south, they were in the Atlantic for 3 months until they reached the coasts of a tiny country on the River Plate, Uruguay.  Their new home.

Not knowing anyone of their neighbours, with all their relatives far away, they started a new life. A baby was coming, that would definitely change their lives. They had 5 more children after the first one in this new land. Their land now. They learnt to love it. They loved it so much that after 50 years of living in Uruguay they visited lovely Italy. They did not recognize that place as the one they had once lived in. Everything had changed, not only them.

I am so grateful for this couple! I met them when they were old, very old. They used to pray at 5pm every day, together. They were special souls. Their story didn’t end as many. They were together in hospital when they passed away, almost together, with only a few minutes difference.

Theirs was a love story, never to be forgotten. I believe the ones who have already left this Earth love to be remembered. If we remember them, we keep them alive in our hearts. There are thousands, millions, billions of stories, each of them different, each of them worth to be remembered, just for different reasons.

We are part of those stories. I would have never met my husband if Giuseppe and Regina hadn’t taken the decision to leave their country because of the war. Even if they hadn’t met each other!!

I got to marry one of their grandchildren.

Today we remember them. As we remember many others who have left and who had scars from wars, from life, from lessons learnt. May they always be remembered with love and may we teach our future generations to remember us. Because history is made from each of us.

What is your story? What will you be remembered for?