It took us almost 20 months to work out the logistics to get her family and mine to convene in Australia for our wedding. It was to be a big fat Italian wedding.
In 2012, we tied the knot and my mother’s dream to travel to Australia came true. In our kitchen in Bulgaria my mom has pinned a post-card from Australia sent many years ago by some cousin who visited there. My mom, since then, had a wish to travel as a tourist to Australia, but never in her wildest dreams would she have heard her daughter’s wedding bells ringing in Australia.
I continued working with Emirates after marriage and was now attending elite customers in the First Class cabin who ranged from royalty to self-made billionaires. Domenic joined as a working partner in a furniture retail shop owned by a few Australian friends and introduced an Australian franchise for repairing leather. He gave up his broadcasting work and learned altogether a new trade to build up a future here.
Dubai is a modern city with creature comforts. It also has an abundance of opportunities to earn a livelihood. It is well connected to enjoy short or long travel trips. Back home we have the family to help with kids and events, and here we have easy access to hired help. In 2008 I was selected to serve in a private airline and worked there till 2014. I quit work when I was pregnant with my first child Natalia. My second daughter Francesca came to us in 2017, and just before she was due, we felt it was time to move to a larger space.
We had lived in a two-bedroom apartment in Al Barsha and it had served us well, but now with the second child on the way we wanted to have more space and a garden for the kids to play. We bought a 3-bedroom villa in Springs and asked our partner company E-Movers to move our home. Like they do for others, our move was a No Mess No Stress affair. It took just a day for their professional team to pack, move, unpack and get our new place ready to sleep in our own bed.
In the corner of our living room in Springs is a ‘Drinks Trolley’, a silent souvenir of Maria’s career and testimony of the hard work she is today. In the foyer is a Louis XV console, a replica that reflects my taste and often makes Maria chuckle. Our two children play in the backyard while their maid fusses over them. Maria is at the stove perfecting her Moussaka, and when she sees me struggling with the drill machine to hang the painting we bought at the art auction, she says, Don’t be a stubborn monkey Domenic, call the handyman service at E-Movers.