My Big, Fat, Greek Family Reunion

My great-grandfather was the perfect example of the American Dream. A young teenager who came to the States in 1911 with only $50 to his name, Panagiotis (Pete) Tsirtsis eventually landed in Boonville, Missouri, and opened up a successful café which he ran until the time of his death. All throughout my childhood, I would hear countless stories about him, the café and about my Greek relatives. These stories were recounted to me by his daughter, my GraGra, with immense pride and admiration.

Helen (GraGra) and her brother Pete

Ever since Chris and I decided to take this trip, one of the must-see destinations I added to the list was Pete’s hometown of Chiliomodi, Greece. Every morning on my walk to work, I would call GraGra and 9 times out of 10, the conversation would steer towards trip planning. What was I most excited about? How long would I be gone again? Did I really think we would make it to the family’s hometown while we were in Greece??? She told me about the time when my grandpa visited in 1988. The town of 1,500 residents practically swarmed him when he arrived and they realized this visitor was family! She often wondered if we would have the same experience during our visit. GraGra and my mom dug up old letters, addresses, phone numbers, anything they could find to try and connect us with a few of the distant relatives that still live there today.

Tsirtsis relatives going through old family photos

Twelve days before Chris and I left for the trip, GraGra passed away. She had been sick for several months and even though it wasn’t a surprise, I was devastated. That was a little over 11 weeks ago now and I can’t think of the last time I went 11 days without talking to her, much less weeks.

Family lunch in Chiliomodi

We became even more determined to connect with the Tsirtsis family during our visit and my mom finally reached a second cousin of hers, Argyris. He was the link to everything that happened from there. He organized a mini-family reunion with two of GraGra’s first cousins, their children and several other relatives. When we got to Chiliomodi, we hadn’t walked more than three minutes down the main street when all of a sudden, we heard someone call out to us, “I think you’re looking for me!?” In the doorway of the town hardware store stood Argyris who welcomed us in with open arms. We got the grand tour of the town center, a nearby monastery and the main church in the town square. This church holds particular significance to our family because it was damaged in the war and my great-grandfather purchased a new church bell to replace what had been lost. It is such a small town and they still talk about that bell to this day. Because of the money that Pete sent back to Greece from the States, everyone kept referring to the Tsirtsis clan as the “Royal Family!” I tried not to let my head get too big from my newly acquired celebrity status.

The family church

The church bells Pete bought after the war

The lunch that GraGra’s cousin, Sotiria, prepared for us was a FEAST. Apparently, it caused quite a stir when she found out that my sister and I don’t eat meat, so she must have just prepared every vegetarian, Greek dish she could think of. After we had eaten well beyond our fill, they just filled our plates back up again!

All the vegetarian dishes you could ever want

My first plate

We could really feel GraGra there in the room with us as we looked through the old family photos and heard all of their stories throughout our afternoon together. After a few hours, it was time to go. They gave us little presents and approximately one million kisses. Sotiria cried and in English said “I love you” as we were heading out – the one and only thing she said to us in English all day. It was just amazing to feel such a connection to these people on the first day we met.

Monastery above Chiliomodi

I know GraGra was there with us that day, but I wish I could call her right now to tell her about it. She would be, in her words, just tickled to death that we went and so happy to know that her American grandchildren could connect with the “Royal Family” of Chiliomodi.

Σ ‘αγαπώ, γιαγιά

-Christina