Category Archives: Family

Sophomore Year: That’s a Wrap

On Thursday, he took his final exam. Then we packed up some of the stuff in his dorm room and moved it to a storage unit we rented near campus. It was that, or rent a van this week and again in August, who cart his dorm stuff back and forth — and find aContinue reading “Sophomore Year: That’s a Wrap”

Becoming Italian, Part 3

I spoke yesterday with the genealogist who is handling the research for my Italian citizenship quest. She confirmed my eligibility and agrees that my best bet is to go through the Petrini line (though I’m also eligible through other lines). She has already found the marriage certificate of my great grandparents Francesco and Maria Petrini.Continue reading “Becoming Italian, Part 3”

Throwback Thursday: Plane Crash

Perusing an online auction site last week, I was stunned by a photograph that suddenly appeared on the screen. It was a newspaper photographer’s photo from 1946, of a plane crash on Long Island — with my grandfather’s name in the caption! I’ve always known that he was riding in a small plane piloted byContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Plane Crash”

Becoming Italian, Part 2

Today I did something I’ve been thinking about for a long time. After several phone consultations, I contracted with a genealogy firm that will research and pull together the documents I need for claiming my Italian citizenship. If all goes well, I will eventually be a dual citizen, with both a U.S. passport and anContinue reading “Becoming Italian, Part 2”

Happy DNA Day

April 25 is National DNA Day! This annual event celebrates the completion of the human genome project in 2003 and the discovery of the double helix in 1953. I’ve posted about my genealogical research various times, but never about the results of my DNA test. Partly that’s because the results keep changing. As the testingContinue reading “Happy DNA Day”

In a Hole in the Ground, There Lived a Hobbit…

Greetings from Middle Earth, where it was snowing as I arrived here in the Shire on Monday. This was after a 75-degree day on Sunday, and temperatures in the 80s for several days before that. Bob and I had driven down to Harrisonburg on Saturday to spend Easter with Jon Morgan at JMU. I bookedContinue reading “In a Hole in the Ground, There Lived a Hobbit…”

Friday Five: Last Call

Today I’m answering five questions for the Friday Five. These are all about something that was last. Who was the last person you called? The last person I called on the phone would be my mother. I planned to send her flowers for her birthday, but something in a group text made me think sheContinue reading “Friday Five: Last Call”

Throwback Thursday: Siblings

April 10 was National Siblings Day, so I guess I’m a few days late. But I can’t resist sharing this old photo of my sisters and I as kids. This was on our family Christmas card one year; it was taken in front of the fireplace at our house in Scituate, Massachusetts, where we livedContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Siblings”