He walked out of the field much like Shoeless Joe Jackson, Moonlight Graham, and other old-time players did in “Field of Dreams “. The difference being this was a vineyard in Italy, not Dyersville, Iowa.
His name was Adalio, and rather than a baseball cap, he wore a fedora with a small flower poking out of its band, and instead of cleats he had on scuffed shoes partially covered by blue pant legs. He was leaning on a walking stick, which had a well-worn curved knob, and carried a leaf-filled branch which he used to swat insects. He appeared from a row of thick, woody grapevines, still heavy with their produce which was supported by an arch framework. It was September and the grapes had not yet been harvested. Before going further, a little background.
It was day three of a five-day bike trip our family was taking through the Italian Tuscany region and my daughter‘s bike had a flat tire that required changing. Our support van arrived and Julio, the driver, was in the process of removing the tire when Adalio appeared on the opposite side of the road, waving his walking stick and shouting what sounded like Italian curses at the passing cars. It was eerily similar to watching grandpa Abe Simpson shake his fist at clouds.
Thinking he was trying to cross, I walked over to help him navigate the traffic. Using hand gestures, I indicated I wanted to help, but it turned out he wasn’t interested in crossing, all he wanted to do was continue to rail at the drivers in a very angry, loud and unrestrained manner. When he saw my daughter and our van on the other side of the road, he finally agreed to cross with me. He put a gnarly hand in the crook of my elbow, and with his uneven gait we slowly made our way across. This didn’t stop him from pointing his walking stick and continuing to direct a steady stream of Italian expletives at every car. The drives did stop due either to his ranting or their unwillingness to get close to this most unusual sight. When he approached my daughter, he turned on the charm, slightly doffing his hat. I would not have been surprised if he had kissed her hand. He began to speak quite rapidly in Italian. Fortunately Julio, from the support team who by this time had completed the tire change, spoke Italian, but even he found it difficult to keep up with Adalio’s rapid speech and gestured him to slow down. Adalio replied that his wife continually told him the same thing, and he would always jokingly reply that as he was 94 and she was 88 why would he slow down now not knowing how much more time they had left together? With much pride, he said they’ve been married for 69 wonderful years and despite occasional small conflicts as he could no longer do everything he was able to in his 70s and 80s, he had learned a valuable lesson. Don’t wait. Do it now he said. The smile on his face and the twinkle in his eye gave the impression that while his flesh may be weak his spirit was certainly willing.
