Yesterday, I received my advance copy of Victoria Magazine’s March/April issue, featuring my article in the Chimes section, Island Awaking. Once again, I am beyond thrilled be a contributing writer to my favorite publication. 

I inherited my love for books and words from my mother, Helen. My mother loved school and education, instilling in me the benefits of learning. She was the daughter of an immigrant who came to this country during the great European migration in the early nineteen hundreds. My grandparents arrived, like many non-native Americans, in search of a better life. America called them to her shores, whispering promises that they could not resist. So they bid farewell to family and friends, to a homeland that was tired and offered few opportunities for them. I don’t know how they found the strength to leave all behind for a dream, but they did.

I like to believe, although I never asked them, that they made the right decision. I know from my mother that they experienced great hardships during the depression and an unimaginable loss when their youngest son was killed in World War II. Through it all, they found the strength that guided them to their new country, and they became prosperous Americans. They achieved the American dream!

I know that their strength runs through my veins. Whenever I faced adversity or a situation that was breaking me, I drank from the reserve passed on to me from my grandparents, especially my grandmother Theresa. She was an uneducated woman who could not read or write. 

When my daughter was leaving for college, I wrote her a letter that began with the line, “You come from a long line of strong women.” I shared with Mandi that my grandmother couldn’t read or write, and she assumed I meant in English. No, I explained, she never went to school and signed her name with an X. She never became a citizen because she could not pass the naturalization test. Now, all these years later, her granddaughter is a published writer! And her great-granddaughter is an actor, writer, and producer in Los Angeles!

I hope we made her proud!