Rosa's Tomatoes

Today I finally, officially, met Rosa.

Rosa is an Italian woman who lives on the corner of one of the streets I cross to go to uni in the morning. Each time Allana (my roommate) or I walk past, and she is out gardening, she greets our wandering faces with, “Ciao bella!” She seems to be the type of woman who smiles just because the sun chose to rise in the morning, and feels the crisp evening air strongly enough to require that all wear a jacket so as to not catch vicious colds.

While I walked home this afternoon, she was out on the sidewalk scrutinizing the sky. I paused to say hello. She asked if I was walking back from work. When I replied that I was, instead, returning from school, she quickly and resolutely hugged me.

Then, while holding my hands, she told me about her tomatoes, her granddaughter who will turn 21 in October, and that I should go put on a jacket.