Yesterday, Day 9 of Laura Shovan's February Daily Poetry Project, led me to remember a secret that was untold until I was in grad school. Rachel Patton Toalson, yesterday's host chose the theme. secrets. She stated, "I've been thinking lately about how no matter how long you've known a person, there are still aspects of their lives that remain mysterious." A special story in my life unfolded when I was in grad school.
Secrets Untold Unfold
3rd grade lesson
where are you from
didn’t know so
I asked at homesge d
she did not tell
secret held close
others Irish
family French???
years later, secret
untold opened
mom rode boat to
America
from Italy
a little child
with her mother
father waiting
one family
together grew
American
lifestyle with friends
Italian
speaking with grand
until age five
moving onward
during grad school
swirling with pride
tale unfolded
told with honor
dressed like old world
childhood stories
pizza fritta
joy provided
where am I from
nonnie and mom
Rome New York- first
generation
©Carol Varsalona, 2026
So you may have realized the secret. Now, I will tell you why there was a secret for so long. My Nonnie believed that her children should be Americanized once she arrived in America, around 2021. Since I was the oldest grandchild born in the United States, I needed to act like an American. That meant speaking English and graduating from college. Life was different in the 20th Century. I did not know that I was a first-generation child of Italian descent until I was an adult. Where are you from?
🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪
It sounds like you really have done a great job of blending your heritage. You keep Nonnie's cooking and honor her wish that you acclimate to American culture as well. Oh, that time in the kitchen and those cookies. Steals my heart.
ReplyDeleteCarol, I think what you say is so true of many families. Ancestors left their country for a new and better life in America and wanted their children and grandchildren to be full-fledged Americans that their country of origin was kept a secret. Yet, unless we are Native American, we all have a country of origin. My grandparents came from a part of Ukraine. You keep your Nonnie's memory alive with your baking and your passing it down to your own granddaughters as well. Bob
ReplyDeleteCarol, wow. What a secret to be kept from young children. It was a different time then, wasn't it? The melting pot has since turned into what I think is an improved potpourri of cultures. Let us celebrate all of them! Thank you for this post.
ReplyDelete