tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post5883833972905113445..comments2023-06-08T07:10:05.436-07:00Comments on When I Was Your Age--A memoir: Coming to AmericaRosaria Williamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03133147851332084180noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-51934001844496586882012-12-30T17:15:52.658-08:002012-12-30T17:15:52.658-08:00Rosaria...this is so beautifully written and comes...Rosaria...this is so beautifully written and comes from your very soul...I can feel it. It made me cry, for you, for your family left behind so many years ago, for your personal struggles that you still endure. You are a very strong, intelligent, amazing woman. You were forced to grow up so early in life and I as well. You write in such a way that I really can feel your pain, I can relate...this sentiment especially ...<br />"In my dreams, I’m back home, in the same little house, everyone around me, having a big Sunday meal.<br />Only then, I feel whole." and I as well. My Maine Bloghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08303311684243020778noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-85589266121704027472010-10-13T05:33:37.730-07:002010-10-13T05:33:37.730-07:00Rosaria, this is so much fun to read! I love the ...Rosaria, this is so much fun to read! I love the notion of looking for a saint who is not already over-subscribed. <br /><br />Beautiful!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-77558190974175707792010-09-22T18:21:59.116-07:002010-09-22T18:21:59.116-07:00beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharin...beautifully written. Thank you so much for sharingHopehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07423174840229628807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-86101753990998155682010-09-19T12:43:25.196-07:002010-09-19T12:43:25.196-07:00BEAUTIUL! I can`t believe I haven`t come upon this...BEAUTIUL! I can`t believe I haven`t come upon this sooner!<br />What a treasure you have here..I do hope your family will appreciate every word and cherish it.<br />What a heritage!<br />Thank you for sharing!<br />dawnDawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07040738593336836064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-78456672022243550152010-07-03T07:00:01.648-07:002010-07-03T07:00:01.648-07:00Rosaria, a quiet Saturday morning and I've com...Rosaria, a quiet Saturday morning and I've come back to read and I am crying. It feels like it comes from somewhere deep in me just beside my veins. It feels like that. Feels like a weeping willow. You write so deeply and with such great sensitivity. Each sentence I grasped like rungs in a ladder, each sentence solid and important, until I got to the next. Your mother's coat, "Mother sported a new coat that year, which fit her perfectly after alterations." How you say it didn't fit and yet it fit perfectly in the same sentence. You and the lice, how the nuns seperated you based on smell. Your mother and meat. You constructing the hope around Saint Christopher and how you suggested song. How your mother so willingly believed you, needed to believe you. How there was sausage in the pillow cases, how your father refused to wear the clothing. How you write, "The town continued to buzz with news of our imminent fortune." And then you introduce white space and say, "My family never emigrated." I cried so hard here, even though I already knew the facts beforehand. And then too, your own children and their shallow roots, your coming to your end... Rosaria, it has been a great pleasure and a meaningful to journey to read your memoires. I do believe I will carry much of this with me for years to come. (I will never forget your writing of a young girl's period and the shame associated with that.) <br /><br />thank you~<br /><br />xo<br />erinWoman in a Windowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14747858840088922077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-3823671486679059952010-06-30T08:40:29.871-07:002010-06-30T08:40:29.871-07:00Vagabonde, welcome! Yes, I will keep it open for a...Vagabonde, welcome! Yes, I will keep it open for a while. I'm editing a few pages at a time, taking my time. <br /><br />You can use blog2print services or download your material to disk yourself and get it to a print outfit.Rosaria Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133147851332084180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-13756857715173342442010-06-29T19:16:52.853-07:002010-06-29T19:16:52.853-07:00We have been away and when we came back I wrote a ...We have been away and when we came back I wrote a post and am now trying to read all my friends’ blogs. I’ll try to hurry up though so I can come and read this blog before you close it. <br />I started my blog to write my recollections for my grand children but to also write about my travels. I am not even at my parents’ wedding, so it will take quite a while longer. Your last words are the type of words I could write myself. I miss Paris and France but when I go there so many things are new, even the language has new words so it is not the same country I left. Then here, as soon as I open my mouth people know I am not from the South because of my French accent – the culture is different too. It feels like I have two countries but belong to neither. My two daughters will not have these feelings, just like your children, and that is good. Please keep this blog open for a while. I did not know you could buy digital copies from Blogger.Vagabondehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10774109692564954568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-20395298565187805052010-06-22T14:05:15.438-07:002010-06-22T14:05:15.438-07:00Yes, I can understand that you can go back, but yo...Yes, I can understand that you can go back, but you have changed forever in fundamental ways. That is a lovely picture.Welshcakes Limoncellohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17209759237794290941noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-52502629303423643282010-06-22T08:41:13.278-07:002010-06-22T08:41:13.278-07:00Beautiful. Sad that it ended, though!Beautiful. Sad that it ended, though!Trish and Rob MacGregorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02846270474176860924noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-51237556633761529732010-06-22T08:39:22.527-07:002010-06-22T08:39:22.527-07:00My journey is coming to an end.
I will never feel ...My journey is coming to an end.<br />I will never feel totally at home anywhere. Italy is my first home. Italy is a mother’s hug, and a father’s praise. But Italy feels foreign now. Through sheer willpower, I make my home where I find myself. <br /><br />You have me in tears! TEARS! Beautifully written. School has left me so little time to read. It was lovely to sit down and read the end of this. So tenderly recalled and recorded.<br /><br />For my own reasons I know what it is to make home where I am. You have managed to pull the reader into your head and that is a perfect read to me!Unspokenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16065870952905767595noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-71168547814710205652010-06-21T19:30:14.308-07:002010-06-21T19:30:14.308-07:00Oh Rosaria, this is the end. I had no idea that t...Oh Rosaria, this is the end. I had no idea that there would be an end. Isn't that funny? I thought this would keep going and going as life does...or seems to. I am working a great deal the next few days. I always wait to come so that I can sit at the table and enjoy, and so I will be back.<br /><br />Done. Done. Really? There is an The End? I don't believe it.<br /><br />xo<br />erinWoman in a Windowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14747858840088922077noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-40162168573654598592010-06-21T18:53:47.287-07:002010-06-21T18:53:47.287-07:00Thanks, Eva, Paul. I too have cried as I wrote thi...Thanks, Eva, Paul. I too have cried as I wrote this last piece a few days ago. I shared it with my daughter( the one I am nursing in Eugene at this time) and we had a good cry together.<br /><br />My husband says that he never understood my complex set of feelings when we visited my brothers in Italy in 2002. Now, he does. <br /><br />Writing this, sorting out all the strands of my life helped me find a resolution.<br /><br />Paul, you shared many things about your father with us; I feel I know him as well. You can see through my story, that it is not an easy journey that of the immigrant. I lucked out in so many ways, married to a devoted man, blessed with brains and a good compass. <br /><br />My journey could be narrated here. Many times, we can't verbalize all the weight of those memories, the burden of explaining ourselves. People expect an abbreviated fixed story for all immigrants: 1. they arrived with nothing; 2, they worked hard; 3. they succeeded against all odds. <br /><br />That kind of script puts a big weight on the shoulder of many immigrants. Many do not have the education and the language to communicate easily; they do not have the resources to succeed.<br /><br />Here too, I was lucky. I have a natural aptitude for languages and learning English was not insurmountable.<br /><br />Thanks again for accompanying me on this journey.Rosaria Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133147851332084180noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-2236541315851794472010-06-21T16:53:35.071-07:002010-06-21T16:53:35.071-07:00This last installment brought me close to tears an...This last installment brought me close to tears and I don't cry easily.potsochttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09497735324298117643noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-63409962120245630452010-06-21T08:26:22.658-07:002010-06-21T08:26:22.658-07:00Thank you for sharing your beautiful story with us...Thank you for sharing your beautiful story with us! It has been a wonderful experience.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03803472040500529682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2448988261434615576.post-91873302349407065202010-06-21T08:02:13.981-07:002010-06-21T08:02:13.981-07:00It is the end. I appreciate you all for following ...It is the end. I appreciate you all for following along, for your encouraging remarks, your astute questions.<br /><br />I will leave this up for a few weeks,making final corrections, here and there; then, I'll close the blog, purchase a digital copy from blogger, and give each of my children a copy.<br /><br />It has been a wonderful experience for me, thanks to you.<br /><br />If you are close to my age, it is time for you to write your own version, one chapter at a time. You see how this progressed, sometimes in fits, sometimes in slow motion. Make it your own. Tell the stories you want to tell, the ones only you can tell.<br /><br />Thank you, dearest readers. I have appreciated your company through this journey.Rosaria Williamshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03133147851332084180noreply@blogger.com