When You SaY Goodbye it Isn’t Over | Hello Vacation rental
goodbye And hello – A vacation rental Grandpa Built
Stories are magical! The stories made over decades become the piece that can {and has} circle you back to the very beginning, 49-years later.
This story, the one putting this runaway Fiat into motion, semi-starts with saying a sad goodbye to GRANDparents, followed by,
“That’s pistachios-nuts! Let’s do it!”
Okay, lemme backup a few paces.
Just. Like. That. My grandparents made their forever exit. I was blessed to have them well into their 90’s {might be something to that stubbornness, Italian genes, and large consumption of peanut m&m’s}.
I have decades of family holidays and Summer reunions wrapped in a Santa-size gift bag full of memories. In your teens through thirties, you never think about the goodbye part.
But there I was, in my 50’s, saying goodbye.
As with the funny events in life, I’ soon realized I didn’t want to let go of a legacy they both had built together.
Where do you start a story that spans over 100 years?
Do I start when Grandpa came to America?
Maybe start after my grandparents married?
How about when I came into the story?
brief “where it all started” Snippet
Seven children, a little island, and a bold sail across that big, murky-blue pond. Raffadali, Italy {on the island of Sicily} was the starting place…but Walla Walla, Washington was the settling place.
Here is the story, as I heard it::
Early 1900’s the Buttícé family landed in Philadelphia the first time around. And later, as if traveling the Atlantic wasn’t tortuous enough, they trekked from the East coastline
all
the
way
to the West, in Washington state. The settling place was in the small town of Walla Walla. Small town to small town, only with a new language + new way of life. Would you even pack up, leave your family behind, and make a trek like this today? I love to travel, and I’ve lived around the United States, but a foreign country…
The short bit of how we end up in Walla Walla. This is not a novel, I’ll skip ahead to my grandparents having eight children of their own and starting a construction business.
Being the first grandchild, plus two working parents, I grew up part-time across the wheat field, at my grandparents house. Grandpa built onto their house to cover his family, countless grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. Remember the days when we had zero electronics and Summer days were outdoors dark to dark?
This was the Buttice Place and it was big enough to bring everyone home together. If you know one thing about Italians, let it be this::
Family and food go together like spaghetti and meatballs, gelato and…your tongue, garlic and…almost anything went with garlic.
Our family was together a lot at my grandparents’ house, annual family reunions, Christmas Eve…family was everything!
The magnet
Grandpa was a magnet. He was the feisty spark that you could never pin down, or keep home. If someone was going somewhere, he was waiting in the car, or had his bag packed for the plane before dawn. He had a gravitational force to attract people together.
No doubt, this was why his business was so successful, along with his quality and built-to-last craftsmanship. You’d get tired of the style before anything he built crumbled. I’m typing this blog on the desk he built me in my first college apartment 29 years ago. If he built it you’ve got it for life.
Grandpa’s Gone, But Our Matriarch lives on
Grandpa left us about six years ago, but Grandma stayed in the house they started and built together. She was a firecracker of a woman! I always described her as the Miss Ellie of the house {anyone remember the show Dallas?}.
She preferred staying in to going out, ran the paper side of the business, and navigated a family ship in good times and tragic. And she loved her sugar, but didn’t sugar-coat her words most times. I can’t open a package of peanut m&m’s without thinking of her.
Italian Family Business
We keep things in the family. Also a running joke…the Italian family business. But sometimes I think my husband, B wonders if it’s really a joke😉 {Keeps him in line though, so I’ll play along}.
With the passing of Grandma over a year-n-half ago family life drastically changed.
And that’s when I had a big-girl life moment.
She was the matriarch and the last of the family glue, so to speak. Up until 2020, we would all meet back up at The House every Christmas Eve and summer visits home. Relatives I hadn’t seen in the last year usually had a reason to walk in the door The House. I saw familiar faces and caught up on everyone’s new adventures. Played with all the new Littles born that year, and be home again.
A Dream Sparks After Goodbye
Houses can’t sit empty forever and that meant Grandma’s and Grandpa’s had to be sold. No more Christmas Eve in their living room, no more picking from the draping apricot tree or raspberry bushes, or going upstairs to the 50’s-purple-n-green psychedelic wallpaper tv room, or all the other memorable pieces of their property that I grew up on.
This is where we have to say Arrivederci.
But Buongiorno to another house grandpa built
Remember back to the beginning of this post {I know, this one is a eternal one}, I said Grandpa owned his construction business?
One of the homes he built was a duplex, just up the drive from my parents’ house.
And now, this is where I got pistachio nuts with an idea. One that will keep their legacy ‘in the family’.
We couldn’t afford their house, but B and I could buy the duplex that I spent my childhood passing by daily, visiting when an aunt and uncle temporarily lived there, and visiting friends who rented over the years.
You Been SO Patient With This Story - Why You’ll Care…
We’re getting our hands dirty renovating #TheHouseGrandpaBuilt in Walla Walla into a vacation rental for you!
Sharing a family legacy alone with all the beautiful gems Walla Walla has to offer travelers. And yes, it’s far more than just the great wine.
As we renovate, we’ll be adding in the pieces that Walla Walla + my Italian family treasure. I’m sharing all the ways to make your vacation to our tiny corner of Washington simple, enjoyable and most of all – MEMORABLE.
It’s Going To Be a Vacation Rental with panache
Yes, when you travel, you can lay your head anywhere in town. But when you come to this little corner of southeastern Washington, you’ll want to stay here because we’ll have it all for you::
A place built with family at the center
A coffee bar for us lovers of coffee
Wine fridge ready to chill all those bottles from your tour day
An upstairs deck out-looking the beautiful Blue Mountains
Downstairs patio to watch the sunset and relax with wine by the fire
A master guide to all things Walla Walla {along with the less known gems}
We’re all family here. And Grandma and Grandpa would expect me to treat you the same💖
Renovation + decorating plans will bring together a country Italian place for families to meet up and share food and moments.
Who loves charcuterie and wine together!?
This is going to be our shared space, of shared favorites, and shared memories, with people from all over. When family and friends photos are shared {a Polaroid map will hang on a wall to add your visit} we see different ways of life, where people travel from, what story they bring inside the walls.
Maybe even someday we’ll get other Italian relatives to travel from Sicily for a visit to Walla Walla, just like my great-grandparents.
You can share your favorite bottle of wine on the wine list above the bar for the next guest {I’ll start – Amavi or L’Ecole 41}
Share the best coffee or restaurant in town {Grazé – Coffee Perk – Passatempo – Red Monkey}
Give us your favorite event of the week or weekend {HERE is a mini list of ideas or join my Refresh list}
In a world that is growing more disconnected and focused on what makes us different, I want #TheHouseGrandpaBuilt to magnetize us back together.
We all have to say goodbye to loved ones at some point. I was blessed to have these two special people for a very long time. Having a piece of something THEY BUILT TOGETHER is the best reason {and place} to come back to.
Before you travel to Walla Walla GRAB THIS GUIDE to easily find your way to all the fantastic-ness of our town.
vacTIONS WITH Joy and smileS
When we share our stories and have shared experiences, it binds us AND blinds us to our differences. Here, in this little corner of Washington, we’re building ties that bind us together and sharing our stories. It’s those stories that get passed down forever.
THIS is where I want to lay my head down each night when I look for a vacation rental. And I hope it will be your pick too.
Knowing that there are others sharing special moments in the same shared place would bring unbridled joy {and his tear-filled-smile} to my grandpa’s face. My grandparent’s built forever places, through their business, for families across generations, and this will also hold moments forever in a shared vacation home that a boy from Raffadali came and built!
Well, this post is almost novel size, but it’s the heart & SOUL of why I created A Glimpse of Good.
We’ve traveled all over the world, Rome, Barcelona, London, and even Glamping, but this place, where it began, is the best vacation place to share. I’d like to believe Grandpa is smiling down at me in this new Chapter…And I so loved to see his smile!
I hope you come and share it with us someday soon. Well, after we’ve finished sprucing it up for you ;)
Cheers and a whole lotta Sparkle to your next Chapter Adventures,
💖 xo ~Andrea
First piece of art to go in Buttice Family Place ~ Walla Walla, Washington
