Carey Leto,90 -Venera Magazzu,92 (Photo by Jim Cox, 2004)
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Άσπρα μαλλιά; Ναι. Σίγουρα. Όπως η γιαγιά μου από το Αϊβαλί. Και σώμα; Όχι πλαδαρό. Όχι παρατημένο. Η αεικίνητη γιαγιά-Λένα, που θα εργάζεται ακόμη. Με μπογιές, χαρτιά, ένα ποντίκι και ένα laptop. Ίσως γράφω κιόλας. Σε κάποιο περιοδικό ή εφημερίδα [θα υπάρχουν ακόμη ε;]. Μικρά κείμενα. Ο κόσμος μέσα από τα μάτια μιας 67χρονης εν έτει 2048. Στην Αθηνά; Στο Βερολίνο; Στο νησί. Στο σπίτι που βλέπει τη θάλασσα. Με τη μεγάλη αυλή και τις τριανταφυλλιές. Παιδιά; Εγγόνια; Ανίψια, που θα έρχονται για διακοπές τα καλοκαίρια [υποσχέσου μου ότι θα υπάρχουν ακόμη εποχές]. Και σκυλιά. Δύο. Να τρέχουν γύρω μου και να ζητάνε βόλτες και χάδια. Και η Χριστιάνα μου να γελά κάθε φορά που θα χάνω τα γυαλιά μου.
«μα που τα πήγα; πάνω στο τραπέζι δεν τα άφησα;»
Freedom Island
Άσπρα μαλλιά; Ναι. Σίγουρα. Όπως η γιαγιά μου από το Αϊβαλί. Και σώμα; Όχι πλαδαρό. Όχι παρατημένο. Η αεικίνητη γιαγιά-Λένα, που θα εργάζεται ακόμη. Με μπογιές, χαρτιά, ένα ποντίκι και ένα laptop. Ίσως γράφω κιόλας. Σε κάποιο περιοδικό ή εφημερίδα [θα υπάρχουν ακόμη ε;]. Μικρά κείμενα. Ο κόσμος μέσα από τα μάτια μιας 67χρονης εν έτει 2048. Στην Αθηνά; Στο Βερολίνο; Στο νησί. Στο σπίτι που βλέπει τη θάλασσα. Με τη μεγάλη αυλή και τις τριανταφυλλιές. Παιδιά; Εγγόνια; Ανίψια, που θα έρχονται για διακοπές τα καλοκαίρια [υποσχέσου μου ότι θα υπάρχουν ακόμη εποχές]. Και σκυλιά. Δύο. Να τρέχουν γύρω μου και να ζητάνε βόλτες και χάδια. Και η Χριστιάνα μου να γελά κάθε φορά που θα χάνω τα γυαλιά μου.
«μα που τα πήγα; πάνω στο τραπέζι δεν τα άφησα;»
Freedom Island
2 σχόλια:
LOCAL FEATURE
So who needs marriage?
By Cyd Zeigler Jr.
Friday, May 21, 2004
After 65 years, these two women just keep on “enjoying each other’s company.”
Most couples have trouble staying together for 12 weeks. But two former New Yorkers have been together for 12 presidential administrations.
Carey Leto, 90, and Venera Magazzu, 92, now living together in Tampa, Fla., will celebrate their 65th anniversary this summer with a trip back to New York City, where their relationship began.
They met in 1939 at a social evening in the Bronx after a mutual friend had plotted to introduce the two. The sparks between them were reserved at first, because Carey was with another woman at the time. While they say it wasn’t love at first sight, though, the attraction between the two was unmistakable.
“I had been attracted to someone who looked very much like her,” Venera recalled recently.
A year later, the two ladies joined a male friend on a cross-country trip to California. Venera was a schoolteacher at the time, so she had no problem taking a long trip during the summer. Carey had suddenly contracted the “flu,” so “unfortunately” had to take some time off from her job.
It was after that trip that Carey ended her former relationship and the two moved in together in an apartment in Brooklyn.
Still, this was 1940 and things like this simply weren’t discussed in the open. They lived together as “friends” until World War II. Both of the women filled roles for the war effort in the United States: Venera joined the army, while Carey worked with codes for a communications firm that handled transmissions regarding the Manhattan Project, the super-secret name for the huge national effort to develop the atomic bomb.
Initial love, then — a man
While Venera was in the army, though, a now-funny thing happened: She fell in love with someone stationed with her in Kelly Field, Texas. There was another factor complicating the triangle. This third party was a man.
Venera even wrote Carey a Dear John letter, but Carey had the last laugh. That man, while on a two-week furlough during the war, married his high school sweetheart.
With her tail firmly implanted between her legs, Venera went back to Carey (who had had a fling with a boy herself in high school). Carey welcomed her back — after the proper period in Purgatory.
The two have been together as a loving couple ever since. The episode was so odd that they don’t even consider it a break in their relationship; merely a blip on the radar screen.
Carey and Venera credit compromise and common sense for their lasting relationship. They said they have never gone to bed without clearing up any misunderstandings or arguments — which, at times, has meant some very late nights.
For many years, they lived as “snowbirds,” spending their summers in New York and wintering in Florida. But, like many people as they grow into very old age, they now live full time in the Sunshine State.
In Tampa, they say they know plenty of “members of the club,” as they call the gay world. They’ve met many of those people through Senior Action in a Gay Environment, the nation’s oldest and largest social service and advocacy organization dedicated to gay seniors.
Like Venera, SAGE, founded in 1977, was born in New York City. It offers social services, programs and community-building to gay seniors and provides education and advocacy on gay aging issues nationwide. The group’s aim is to enrich the lives of aging seniors through activity, regardless of sex, race, age or religion. While many younger gay men and women stick to friends of the same sex, Carey and Venera relish the breadth of the walks of life that comprise their circle of friends.
The chapter in southern Florida of which the couple is a member was founded in 1994.
New York City’s SAGE chapter bases its social activities at the Center. Those include two-hour walks around the city, a theater desk where members can access free and low-cost tickets to shows on and off Broadway, and other Center-based activities like painting, card games and creative writing.
Full lives in their 90s
Carey and Venera spend their time together, and with friends, attending the theater, concerts, movies and playing cards. Every evening after dinner, they bring out the deck for a nightly round of Kings in the Corner. They also head to a local casino to play poker quite often.
“Carey’s a gambler,” Venera said, chuckling.
Their favorite activity, though, is travel. They have been around the world together. They have been to Bermuda, the Mediterranean, Alaska, France, Japan and China, to name only a few sites.
Their favorite vacation is cruises, which they’ll continue to take as long as they have the energy. In fact, they have two planned in the next year “to the Caribbean, somewhere.”
While the two now sleep in separate twin beds, the beds are close enough that they can touch one another during the night. “She can role over on my bed anytime,” Carey said impishly.
They also said that, over the course of their 65 years together, they have been faithful to one another. “I’ve looked around sometimes,” Carey said. “But I’ve never made anything of it.”
And yes, for those wondering not what sex is like at 90, but if it even exists: The two women proudly state they still enjoy one another’s company.
“Younger people should always remember that,” Carey said. “At 90, you can still be at it.”
Not married, but domestic partners
The two registered in New York City as domestic partners in 1996. With all the hullabaloo swirling around same-sex marriage now, the two have no interest in, or intention of, getting married.
“There’s no point in marriage,” Carey flatly state. “We’ve been together so many years already.”
Still, looking back over the last 65 years, they are amazed and proud at how far society has come on this issue. From living quietly together in a Brooklyn apartment to nearing the right to marry, they never could have imagined it in their lifetime. Still, they see the need for continue progress ahead.
“Today, we’ve come a long way, but we still have a long way to do,” Venera said. Presently, she is working on an autobiography tentatively titled “Sixty-five Years ‘R’ Us.”
Both of the women are very cognizant of their age. Though Carey says that Venera is “getting better and better,” the latter says she can feel her vitality diminishing.
While they are full of vigor, laughing a lot and trying not to let age stop them from doing the things they want to do, as the two women near the century mark, their age is catching up with them. They try not to think about it, but they both understand that their lives together will end sometime in the coming years.
“I always wish that I will go first,” Carey said. “I wouldn’t like living without Venera around.”
:'-)
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