Elena

Permanently nostalgic for the sights, smells, sounds, and foods of the land of my birth. Other accounts: ElenaCorti@ElenaCorti5, PolosDogWorld

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

OMG! Absolutely not!

[Dr. Eric Berg DC @dr_ericberg]

Did you guess what it was?

This product is made by mixing starches (potato, wheat, corn, or tapioca) with MSG to boost the flavor. Since it doesn't taste like the real thing, artificial flavoring is added too.

Then they bulk it up with cheap proteins like soy or egg whites, mix in sugar and sorbitol, add vegetable oils, and preserve it with sodium benzoate so it lasts longer.

Finally, coloring is added to fool your eyes into believing it's the real deal.

Check out my app to help read food labels and identify processed foods: https://t.co/MKHa2h3UvU

Dr. Eric Berg, DC, not MD; information only

[Dr. Eric Berg DC @dr_ericberg]

Did you guess what it was?

This product is made by mixing starches (potato, wheat, corn, or tapioca) with MSG to boost the flavor. Since it doesn't taste like the real thing, artificial flavoring is added too.

Then they bulk it up with cheap proteins like soy or egg whites, mix in sugar and sorbitol, add vegetable oils, and preserve it with sodium benzoate so it lasts longer.

Finally, coloring is added to fool your eyes into believing it's the real deal.

Check out my app to help read food labels and identify processed foods: https://t.co/MKHa2h3UvU

Dr. Eric Berg, DC, not MD; information only

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

I'm married to him. :)

[LadyValor @lady_valor_07]

If life gave you one chance to have a conversation with your very first love again, would you take it? ❤️

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Well, I have always paired black with burgundy or red, grey with black, navy with camel, chocolate with cream or with black in the colder seasons, and navy and white and beige and white for the summers. Learned it long ago from my mother.

[Master Notes ☿ @MasterNotesX]

Ahora sabrás escoger correctamente los colores de tu ropa.

[Bookshelfie Reviews⭐️ @bookshelfie_hq]

Reading a book in public is only performative to people that don’t read books. To a reader, every waiting room, park bench, and train carriage is another potential chapter.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@TheFigen_ We learn that before we're out of elementary school.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@hbdchick That's White Nights. Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, and a young and lovely Helen Mirren. Watched it many times, not for the acting (Baryshnikov can't act) but for the dancing, which is sublime. What he was dancing, season tickets were the gift my husband gave me every year.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Maybe you're onto something.Never had a plate like that, just an adult plate, and never had a thing about separating the food. If we're having roast potatoes (my absolute favorite), I usually eat that first because I can't wait. I eat my protein with the green vegetable, salad, and Italian bread. If there's mashed potatoes I eat it all together. I certainly don't mind if the food touches something else. It makes no sense to me. Do people like this not eat stews, thick soups like gumbo etc?

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@barristerlawusa @Architectolder Only I see posted that I like. Light, but not white and stark like an operating room.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@extrakimkim @Architectolder Please, no. Aren't we done with white kitchens, yet?

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@cabocynde @Architectolder Sorry, definitely not for me.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@Miranizimmm Italy, of course.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

I've often blamed what I see around me on the culture. I grew up in an Italian home. I've tried to recreate one with my children. Perhaps growing up that way, with grandparents and extended family who reinforced it helped. They're not like that narcissistic son. I'm grateful for it every day.

It's nice to know that many American families weren't always like this.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Am I the only parent who finds this appalling? I responded in anger with the words below. I won't take it back, but it would be nice to know I'm not alone.

OK, I get it. Talk about the weather, the book you're reading, a trip you're planning, because God forbid you have real conversations about real issues. It might make your self-absorbed, fragile little self feel inadequate or judged.

We'll just shelve our concern and worry about you and never mention any of it. We'll never mention our own worries either, about our health or finances. That's probably an imposition and boring to children like you. Did I have a child like you I would make it crystal clear that you understand you get nothing more from me, buddy, not a shoulder for crying on when people cheat on you or disappoint you, not baby sitting, or help with money, or an inheritance. I'd rather leave it to a charity I trust any day, maybe for children who have lost their parents or been abandoned by them.

Grown children like this are the reason that on every survey I've seen in the last 30 years, when they can be honest, parents of grown children regret having them. What have most parents created?

[𝓐 ⭑ @ayojoestar]

THINGS I LEARNED FROM PARENTS WHOSE GROWN KIDS ACTUALLY CALL THEM.

1. They stopped auditing.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Actually, they call me every day or so now that we're older and they worry about us. My daughter brings her family down to stay with us for the week-end at least once a month, even though it's a four hour drive. My son is local and he's always in and out of the house.

We share everything, our joys, our sorrows, our worries. I don't need to ask, they just tell me, because they can vent to me, expose their worries because I won't judge but only console. I don't tell them what to do. Often they ask for advice, but I give it sparingly and with many caveats. I never criticize spouses. I follow my mother's advice to me when I was young and despised my sister in law, as we all did. She said, if he's happy, then we have to be happy, and not make it worse.

Sometimes I think it's a cultural thing. We just have different kinds of families.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

@Freckleface12 @ayojoestar How did you get that from what I posted? My children are the opposite of that man. My family is the opposite of that man's.

I'm glad to know you have a good, honest, and loving relationship with your grown children. So do I.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Yes, and what about your kids, what if they had problems? Then they'd be off limits too, I suppose. The conversations you have with your mother are those I have with a friend I haven't seen for a while, because we're not that close.

I feel sorry for both of you.

Btw, I loved my parents with my whole heart. I miss them each and every day, and it's been twenty years. My mother and I spoke on the phone every day. She knew everything about my life. I vented, cried, told her how angry I was. She never judged, she never told me what to do unless I asked her for advice. Mostly, she just listened, consoled, told me I'd get through whatever it was.

She spoke of her health very rarely. She didn't need to. Every time we spoke I asked her how she felt. When she confessed she had a certain issue, I hounded her to go to the doctor. When it turned out she had cancer, I took her to Memorial Sloan Kettering, re-arranged my life so I could be available to her, as she'd been available to me my whole life.

Perhaps the fact that my parents were from Italy, that I was raised in a basically Italian home is the difference. Mediterraneans have a different concept of "family".

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

It's better than lying which I am usually doing when I say, respectfully, because I usually don't respect my opponents at all.

[femiiiiii. @femiiiszn]

i really love the phrase 'with all due respect' because it doesn't specify how much respect is due. could be none.

[femiiiiii. @femiiiszn]

i really love the phrase 'with all due respect' because it doesn't specify how much respect is due. could be none.

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

Completely inflated scores. It's all a scam. Have them take an SAT from the 1970s or 1980s, and see what they get.

[The Culturist @the_culturist_]

University professors keep telling us their students are virtually incapable of reading a book cover to cover.

But the AP English scores are apparently better than ever? What's going on??

[Elena @ItalianReveries]

It's monstrous. Don't contact him, and if he someday asks for something, deny it. Actions have consequences.

[La Gbê @KingMVP225]

Anonyme : Je m’appelle Madeleine, j’ai 77 ans. Mon petit-fils s’est marié en octobre dernier. Je n’étais pas invitée.

J’ai découvert son mariage à travers une photo envoyée sur mon téléphone par ma fille.

À 77 ans, j’en ai traversé, des choses. J’ai connu des périodes difficiles, j’ai perdu mon mari, puis ma sœur. Je pensais qu’avec l’âge, on finissait par être préparé à presque toutes les peines.

Mais je ne connaissais pas encore celle-ci : regarder la photo du mariage du petit garçon que vous avez gardé, accompagné à l’école, soigné lorsqu’il était malade, aidé à faire ses devoirs… et comprendre que vous n’aviez pas votre place parmi les invités.

Mon petit-fils, Lucas, a 32 ans. C’est le fils aîné de ma fille, Nathalie.

Quand Nathalie s’est séparée de son père, Lucas avait 4 ans. Pendant plusieurs années, elle travaillait dans la restauration avec des horaires compliqués. Alors, comme beaucoup de grands-mères, j’ai pris le relais.

J’allais chercher Lucas à l’école. Il goûtait chez moi. Nous faisions ses devoirs ensemble sur la table de ma cuisine.

Il a pratiquement grandi dans cette maison.

Nous avions une relation très forte.

Pour ses 18 ans, il m’a offert un petit collier en argent avec une pierre bleue. Ma fille m’a raconté plus tard qu’il avait économisé pendant plusieurs mois grâce à son petit boulot du week-end pour pouvoir me l’acheter.

Lorsqu’il me l’a donné, il m’a dit :

— « Mamie, j’ai choisi cette pierre parce qu’elle ressemble à la couleur de tes yeux. »

J’en avais pleuré.

Je porte encore ce collier aujourd’hui.

Il y a trois ans, Lucas a rencontré Élodie. Il me l’a présentée assez rapidement. Elle travaillait dans les assurances et m’avait fait bonne impression.

Je me souviens avoir dit à Lucas :

— « Si tu es heureux avec elle, alors je suis heureuse pour toi. »

Je n’imaginais pas qu’un jour je ne serais pas présente à leur mariage.

Au début de l’année dernière, Nathalie m’a appelée.

J’ai immédiatement remarqué quelque chose dans sa voix. Elle choisissait chacun de ses mots.

Elle m’a annoncé que Lucas et Élodie allaient se marier en octobre. Elle m’a expliqué qu’ils souhaitaient une cérémonie extrêmement intime, avec seulement une vingtaine de personnes.

J’étais heureuse pour eux.

J’ai attendu mon invitation.

Une semaine.

Puis deux.

Rien.

Alors j’ai fini par demander à ma fille :

— « Nathalie, tu sais quand je vais recevoir mon invitation ? »

Il y a eu un long silence.

Puis elle m’a répondu :

— « Maman… Lucas voulait t’en parler lui-même. Mais tu n’es pas sur la liste. »

Je pensais avoir mal compris.

— « Quelle liste ? »

— « La liste des invités. Ils ne seront qu’une vingtaine. »

Une vingtaine de personnes parmi leurs proches.

Et la grand-mère de Lucas n’en faisait pas partie.

Ma fille a essayé de m’expliquer que la salle était petite, que la famille d’Élodie était nombreuse et que certaines personnes de son côté n’étaient pas invitées non plus.

Puis elle a prononcé cette phrase :

— « Ce n’est pas contre toi, maman. »

Je crois que c’est justement cette phrase qui m’a fait le plus mal.

Je lui ai demandé si Lucas était au courant.

Nathalie a hésité.

— « Oui. Il respecte ce qu’ils ont décidé ensemble. C’est leur mariage. »

Après avoir raccroché, je me suis assise dans mon fauteuil et je suis restée un long moment sans rien faire.

Quelques semaines plus tard, Lucas m’a finalement appelée.

La conversation était étrange. Nous qui avions toujours tellement de choses à nous raconter, nous cherchions nos mots.

Il m’a expliqué que le mariage serait vraiment très petit et qu’il espérait que je comprendrais.

Puis il a ajouté :

— « Et puis, quand on aura des enfants, tu seras importante pour eux. »

Cette phrase m’a profondément blessée.

Pas parce que je ne voudrais pas connaître un jour mes arrière-petits-enfants.

Mais parce que j’ai eu l’impression que ma place dans sa vie dépendrait désormais des moments où l’on aurait besoin de moi.

Je lui ai simplement répondu :