My grandmother, Nona, was one of the dearest people in my life. When she passed away some years ago, I had just started to pursue my doctoral degree overseas. I still vividly remember the very moment when my mom called me over phone to share the news. I could tell from the sound of my mom’s voice and urgency of the call that something was wrong.

As an international student with relatively low income and little savings left, I couldn’t afford to fly home to be present at my grandmother’s funeral. It was the most difficult time for me during my entire time living abroad, especially as I knew how much my Nona would have loved for me to be there, if only to hold my mom’s hand and wipe her tears off as we were saying goodbye to the most loving person we have ever known.

Nona was my greatest teacher of what it means to love somebody without expecting anything in return. When I was little, raffaello—the famous coconut almond balls produced by the Italian chocolate giant Ferrero—were my favorite sweets. They used to run this magical commercial with a ballerina, all dressed in white and full of grace, receiving raffaello from her own mother as to congratulate her for an amazing dance performance. It might have been due to these adorable pictures of a dancing ballerina running in my head (I used to practice ballet back then), or simply due to their amazing taste, why I used to love these coconut almond balls so much. Well, I still do!

My dear Nona, as she usually did, found a homemade recipe to make these little treats for me on every single birthday I can remember counting. She made them even when she could hardly move her fingers due to harsh rheumatoid arthritis that attacked her joints in her last years alive, before she was brought to a nursing home and eventually passed away. I still get tears in my eyes, and a big knot in my throat, whenever I think of her and all the love she put in making those coconut almonds balls for me, year after year.

Last fall I went back to my grandma’s original recipe and adjusted it slightly to make use of all the delicious ingredients I could find my kitchen at the time. Of course, messing up with the recipe didn’t turn to be such a good idea. The base was way too dry to be able to make small compact balls with an almond inside each. I ended up throwing most of it out—while licking my fingers and enjoying the delicious taste, nonetheless.

But I’ve decided that I will give it another try soon. And then another. And another. Until the day comes when I have kids and grandkids of my own, making those coconut almonds balls for them with as much love as I possibly can.

Thank you, Nona. ♥️

PS: This is an old post from my very first blog. I've decided to repost it here, since this story means a lot to me and tells everything about what it means to love somebody. It's also Nona's birthday today and I miss her so very much!