My Grandmother Lived in the Mountains

My Grandmother lived in the mountains of Caposele, Italy before she migrated to England at 25 in 1954. We lost her in 2003 when I was 9 years old to dementia, which meant that we had lost a lot of her during her illness. She was a warm and loving presence in my childhood and I have fragments of memories, video and photographs to remind myself of who she was. It was journeying back to Caposele, though, where I had truly found my Grandmother again. I was able to walk through the town she grew up in, look out at the same view from where her house stood, walk among the same pines and along the same river, and felt the love from the family that remained in the mountains.

HEATHER MCCUTCHEON

Painted Desert