WHERE AM I FROM?
I am from a second generation American family that valued its ethnic Greek heritage.
I am from the Greek Orthodox Church, its spirituality, mystery and traditions.
I am from my mother’s aspirations and my father’s failures.
I am from Freddie the Pig, The Hardy Boys, and The Black Stallion.
I am from playing Hide and Seek, sandlot baseball, and Red Rover until dark and catching fireflies in a jar during long summer days.
I am from a 6 family apartment house with a chicken coop covered with grape leaves and a huge vegetable garden in the backyard.
I am from a large extended family filled with joy and sadness, weddings and babies and funerals.
I am from successes in grade school and high school and failures in college.
I am from teachers who cared that I learn.
I am from those who loved me and those that did not.
I am from poverty but never knowing it.
I am from my wife and children who teach me about me.
I am from not believing what I was told and believing what I experienced.
I am from waterfalls, mountains, pine forests, music, and solitude.
I am from failing to successfully make a pancake at Boy Scout Camp.
I am from walking all the way to grade school on snow banks without touching the pavement.
I am from always asking “why?”
I am from jokes, comedy, humor and laughter.
I am from being picked last in sports and first in the classroom.
I am from tuna fish and a bed in the closet.
I am from stories: in books, on the radio, in the movies, on television, from family gatherings and listening to people’s lives.
I am from the efforts of family in previous generations who gave much for the success of their children and upon whose lives my own life rests.
I am from believing in things invisible.
I am from bad genes, poor doctoring, and miracles.
I am from the wonder of it all.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
