Where It ALL Started -Soveria Mannelli in Calabria ITALY
On paper, the story of Positional US started just a few years ago, in spirit, well, that is a story that started in the 1920's. My mom and dad both grew up in the town of Soveria Mannelli in the region of Calabria. It was there that they met and were married. It was there that they left (not at the same time) for America in the 1950's. As my dad wrote to me in a letter in 1998- "We had brought over a set of good virtues: sacrifice, honor, respect and a tremendous will to succeed through hard work." Thankfully they passed it on to me and I have done my best to pass them on to my children. Soveria Mannelli was also where my parents had relationships with the Rubbettino (family) and Leo (friends) families. This is important because the companies of both of those families, Rubbettino Editore and Lanificio Leo are both founders of POSITIONAL. (More about this in our next blog post)
As a child I was fortunate enough to have vacationed in Soveria Mannelli five times. (1971, 1974, 1976, 1978 & 1981). It wouldn't be until 16 years later that I returned. This time with my wife and first-born son when he was just 1 year old. It was then and there the emotional and spiritual connection to my ancestral hometown began! Over the years since then we have been blessed to spend time in our home there once or twice annually. During these times my love and connection seems to intensify. When I'm there I feel a great sense of belonging and a lift in my spirit that seems to give me a better understanding of the person I want to be.
I'm sure there are many of you with similar life experiences. I hope they move you and inspire you to share with the world. It's not easy for me to write this as my tears keep interrupting me. It makes perfect sense to tear up when you are passionate about something. Crying is a response to a strong emotional state in humans. Passion is defined as a strong emotion toward something. Put those together and you get tears.
Grazie Mille!