The package that Julie had in her hands was large enough to contain a medium-size book.
Grandma Eirini looked at it as she looked at the picture of a loved one, a family member. With nostalgia and deep affection.
Only Eirini knew the meaning of that evening, of that birthday present, and she hoped that Julie would never forget it from that moment on.
'Grandma, what's inside? Do you already know it?' asked Julie.
'I know it was made for you many years ago. Your father enjoyed writing letters, he wrote a lot for me too. The first years he lived in France, he sent us a letter every month to Amorgos. In that way, he told us about his world and let us imagine what he lived, where and how. Occasionally he would add to the letters the leaf of some kind of laurel he had recently discovered. Here on the island we always use the same but it seems there are many laurels. Your father started to collect all types he could find'.
The laurel again, Julie thought.
'Grandma. Sorry, could I go to read now? I'll help you with the housework later.'
'Of course, my little Julie. Enjoy your special gift. And again, happy birthday.' Chronia Polla'! '
Eirini left Julie free and she reached her favourite place in the garden.
Over the olive tree, there was a huge green lawn and at the end, the fig tree.
It always seemed a massive tree to Julie but it was actually big enough to fit a wooden house in the middle of its branches. The little tree-house was called 'to dentrospito' and was built by grampa Giorgos when Julie was 5.
Quickly she climbed the tree, reached the tree-house and sat in the middle.
In the dentrospito Julie always felt safe, like in the wooden womb of her childhood.
When she found the right position for her legs, she turned on the string of lights around and opened the box.
Julie breathed a deep sigh than freed the little knot of the string that held all together.
A second later she had the impression that a familiar smell came over her. Indeed this impression occurred very soon: the package revealed to contain many letters made of folded yellowed sheets and many small packs of a very light paper, so thin that she could see through: they contained dry leaves.
Without further lingering, Julie recognized the size and the smell of the dry laurel leaves.
The laurel, again, thought Julie.
She pulled out all from the wrapper and discovered her treasure: many letters folded all in the same way with the numbers from 1 to 15 written on top.
Between each letter, there were the leaves packets.
Julie couldn't wait anymore. She took the first letter and opened it.
" Dear Julie, today is the 23rd of July,1988 and you already came into our world.
You are born this morning, at 10:23 in the Hospital of Paris - Saint Joseph.
Your weight is 2,800 kilograms, you are healthy and your mother too.
You already seemed very curios about all what was around. Your mother and I were just too happy to tell'.
Julie felt suddenly a twinge in her heart that she never felt before.
She took the first of the laurel leaves included in the gift box and brought it to her nose.
It smelled familiar and warm, something that helped her hold sitting to the ground.
The emotion coming from her father's handwritten words on the day of her birth was overwhelming, she couldn't believe it was true.
Tears of joy, excitement, sadness filled her face.
She took a few minutes break before going on with reading, she felt as if the ground beneath her feet was beginning to crumble.
One more deep breath, the laurel leaves in her left hand, she went further.
'Today is the day in which I saw the truth, the life, the love. No day of my life has been more intense than this, I could swear it. I was trying to figure out how the last 9 months were, but they were nothing in comparison to the 23rd of July.
Maybe your mother saw it differently. She 'felt' you were there a long time before she saw you today.
Your name was 'Julie' because your mother wanted it since we waited for you. Even if, in my opinion, there could be no better name for you than 'EIRINI'. The Peace. The Mother. Your Grandma in Amorgos who is loving you without even having seen you.
You will meet her very soon, probably. And you will love her just as she will love you, very probably.
What a wonderful gift came today into my life, Julie! I was crying for the immense joy since I brought your mother to the hospital yesterday night. What a tremendous night was! And how many light is there today in comparison!
It is like I came back to life again, together with your birth.
One of my first thoughts, when I was preparing my personal bag for the hospital, was to grab my block with the white sheets and my pen. This habit never abandoned me.
Dear Julie, my little baby, your father loved to write letters and this one is the first dedicated to you.
I am your father, my name is Angelos Giannakos, I'm 41 years old and I was born on the greek island of Amorgos at a time in which hospital were no needed.
I'm Greek, my family is greek and half part of you is greek too. The other half part is french.
I am a man of medium height, dark-skin with light hair, I am the only one in my family to have them like this. You seemed to be blonde in the first seconds of your birth but we will see it!
I am a curious man, I've done and learned a lot of things till today.
I'm patient, I spent a lot of time thinking about me and my path. People on the island used to call me 'the thinker' or 'the philosopher' but I thought they didn't even know who a philosopher was. '