Hometowns

Today was bitter sweet. Two days after the horrific and senseless shooting in my hometown of Orlando, Florida, I stand in another hometown, thousands of miles away. Today we made the journey to my grandfather's village of Pouri. This year marks the 100th anniversary of my Grandfather immigrating to America. We drive up the "Snake Road", watching the Gulf of Volos give way to the wine-dark Aegean Sea. Driving through tiny villages the worlds forgotten we finally arrive in Pouri. As in most mountain villages, the car-park is outside the village and you walk to the square. We park the car, and proceed up the 180 degree steps. Fortunately, I brought climbing rope, so we tie-off on the handrails and begin to pull ourselves up. Just kidding. We had to walk, stopping every few feet to complain; but, we cannot because there is not enough air to breathe and talk, so we choose breathing. Great decision. We finally get to the square, and I go into a small taverna and order frappe's and nero (water). The young woman does not speak English, so I tell her, in my best Greeklish that my name is Lisa Camichos, and that my Pappou was Yannis Camichos. "Yannis? Camichos?" she asks. "Ne (yes)." She picks up her iPhone and calls someone. A few moments later while we are recovering from our climb, three men come to the table. In what can only be described as the best game of charades on planet earth, I discover that my Great Uncle George has a grandson and great grand-daughter living in Pouri. VERY long story short, after an hour, these three men handed me a cell phone. On the other end of the line was Sophia Camichos, the great grand-daughter of my George. . We exchanged contact information and talked for a few minutes (she spoke English). Afterwards, we all toasted to family over the local drink tsiporou. We are all different, but underlying all of us is the desire to be part of a family- whether by blood or by choice. I did not know these people who helped me today, nor did we speak each others language, yet all of these differences aside we connected. We should all learn from these men- we should all reach beyond ourselves everyday and see the similarities we all share, and stop looking at the differences.