My Twenty-Four Year Relationship

Next month will mark twenty-four years that I've had a relationship with the Republic of Cyprus. My first visit was in 1987, at the end of September; before that Cyprus was a place in literature, a setting for Othello or the Greek Myths. I had no more knowledge of the island than of any other on the earth. But I came here with Andreas, my best friend, to meet his family and bring us closer since we had come to the realization that we would get married after we returned to the U.S. from our Peace Corps service in Kenya. Cyprus was another new place for me to learn about and through the eyes of someone I loved. Now, we are here for our annual trip when we bring our daughters, Chloe and Talia, to visit their grandmother and numerous relatives in and around Limassol, in the southern part of the island. We come in August, when the temperatures are high and the populace is in vacation mode with the coming of August 15th, the religious holiday celebrating the ascension of Mary to Heaven. Andreas' mother, Eleni, is usually fasting by the time we arrive, eating vegetables and legumes but no dairy or meats or leavened bread.

I have a love-hate relationship with the city of Limassol. I love it for visiting family and for its proximity to the coastline. I do not love the heat or humidity or the heavy traffic. I don't love the prevalence of strip bars and pornography or the constant building of high-rise apartments and hotels with no regard for the environment or for the residential neighborhoods that have existed here for so long. The influx of immigrants from numerous countries has changed the flavor of the city from a purely Cypriot Greek one to one that seems culturally un-congealed.

I love being here for the yearly experiences the island provides my daughters; they know all of their family from Illinois, Kansas, and New York to Tasmania and Cyprus. They are fortunate to have traveled here so much, and we are fortunate to be able to give this trip to them each year. Even so, the trip is sometimes hard on us as a family; at home we are not always together this much.