Wednesday, January 03, 2007

SicilianMama



For almost 3 years now, our mother has been using this blog to share her experiences as an ex-American living in Sicily. On December 12, 2006 (December 11 for those of us family members receiving the news back in the States), she unexpectedly passed away. Her memories and stories remain alive in the words of this blog, and in the pictures she took.

Mom enjoyed writing, and enthusiastically dove into the blogosphere when she began her Sicilian adventure. She would write about the things she saw that were new and different, and also the frustrations she had due to language and culture barriers. However, this blog was not only an outlet for our mother's thoughts and feelings dealing with the stress and excitement of moving to a foreign country. The prevalent reason why she blogged, rather than just journaling her experiences for personal use, was for us-- the family and friends left behind in the United States and elsewhere. Mom wanted to share her experiences with everyone that she loved, even though her adventures took her geographically far from us. As her children, it was wonderful for us to be able to keep tabs on what our mom was us to, and learn about the same things that she was learning about through this blog. It prepared us for our visits to her new home, when it was definitely a good idea to know who this man was hugging us and shoving dolces in our faces, and how to conduct ourselves in the market, and why we were eating such a huge meal in the middle of the day. Beyond educating us, though, it allowed us to hear our mother's voice whenever we wanted, regardless of what time it was half a world away, because when we read her writing, her voice was in our ears. And as hard as it was to have so much distance between our mother and us, it was always so validating to read about how much fun she was having, how thoroughly she was enjoying herself, and how much it meant to her to be where she was.

Even now, with our mother gone from this world, SicilianMama.com has served us in the same ways-- to remind us how positive her move was for her, to teach us more about Sicilian culture than we caught the first time reading it through, and to allow us to hear her voice. Our hope is that her voice will not die along with her body. We want this blog to be just the beginning of her legacy. If another Expatriate American woman living in Sicily would be willing to continue her work, we could keep this blog alive so that it will continue to attract and inform new readers and old readers alike. Please contact us (sicilianmama@joncollier.com) if you or anyone you know would be interested in keeping up this important project.

We love and miss you, Mom!
Jon and Jess