We are Italians, it’s not about what you earn, but what you give.

Tonight I got held up for 3 hours in Paris due to a beautiful but annoying snow storm. Durning the brief 1.5 hour flight, I chatted with the lady beside me who was a swim teacher/psychiatrist. We touched down in Milan at 2AM and amazingly by 2:15 I had my bags in hand. As I was walking out I saw the woman hugging her parents, she stopped, walked over any proclaimed that they would drop me at my AirBnB.

They all live well outside of Milan and the trip into the center is out of the way, and while I relished saving  $130 on a cab, I said I couldn’t, it was too much. I turned away and the father, who spoke no english put his hand on my shoulder and lead me to the car. 

20 minutes into the drive I asked her to give me the parents address so I could send a gift and she shrugged it off saying, “We are Italians, it’s not about what you earn but what you give.”