People who tattooed my life #1: Elisa

On a rare sunny evening last summer I was sat watching the sun go down in my garden having finished a family BBQ. I was sipping cold retsina and that always makes me ACHE for Greece. It made me think of people who left a beautiful, indelible mark on my life: people who "tattooed" me.  I thought I'd write about some occasionally.

#1: Elisa

We were staying in rural Greece; in Evia, in a tiny orthodox pilgrimage town called Prokopi. It was July and warm and wet as brandy because of an earlier thunderstorm.

My family and were meandering around this quaint place in early evening and our hunger was provoked by   amazing scents of lemon oil and oregano on lamb coming from a tiny but popular souvlaki place. Through a beaming smile behind the counter,  a waitress asked us what we would like.  I tried to reply in my best Greek; she laughed 'til tears ran down her face then spoke in near perfect English: " Thank you for trying,  Xenos !".

Her name was Elisa. She was grateful to have English tourists to use her language skills on; few non-Greek tourists make it to Prokopi, As is the way with Greeks she inquired nosily about our lives.  In return for our candour she regaled us with some of her vital history.  She had run away from home as a teenager to become a chorus line dancer for concerts entertaining troops who were securing the middle east as it was rebuilt after WW2. She was beautiful at seventy; I can only imagine what she looked like back then.

She exhorted her husband to bring out plates of home-made souvlakia and tiropitas for us as we chatted.

Beach sign Nr Prokopi !

She had lived as a princess: finest hotels and restaurants.  A high-ranking American officer had fallen in love with her, and he promised to take her to America, but she never dared to follow him and she broke his heart.

Her stories were so vivid; so enticing. I asked her " Elisa, are you really happy here after you experienced all the opulence and excitement of your life ?".  She said "I am content here. Contentment is worth a lot more and lasts a long time. My memories are with me whenever I want to pull them out !  I am content and happy".

After much wonderful food and drink for the pittance she charged us she blessed me and my family and I blessed Elisa and her husband.

That was 2002. I will never forget her.