Barbara J. Hamby

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A Dose of Italian Temperament

A dramatic incident at the Winter Olympics in Italy reminded me of another incident involving an Italian man that occurred in my life about thirty years ago.

If you have not watched the ice dancing, you won’t be aware that an Italian couple who came out of retirement to skate in Torino, fell at the end of their program last night. The cameras focused on their glaring faces for several minutes. They marched off the ice separately and reportedly did not speak to each other for at least twenty-four hours. They had another ice dancing program scheduled for tonight. Cameras followed them as they walked around the arena separately, deliberately avoiding each other and exchanging dirty looks. I couldn’t wait to see how they skated. In spite of their animosity, they skate-danced an excellent program and thawed as they progressed, ending in each other’s arms. Later, backstage, they were very emotional.

Back to my Italian friend, whom I dated for a number of months all those years ago. He was at least fifteen years older than I, and he constantly told me he was too old for me. However, when we swam all day and danced most of the night, I was the one who was dragging, not he. When he suddenly stopped calling me, I wasn’t surprised and I didn’t try to contact him. Some time later, he called me and said it was the one-year anniversary of the date we broke up. I was astonished. He asked if I knew why we broke up. Of course I didn’t. He told me that I usually said “Bye bye,” at the end of a phone conversation, but one night I said “Good bye,” and he took it literally. English was not his best language. We went out together one more time, but communication was still a problem. We didn’t keep in touch after that.