The Book Of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

The Book of Me, Prompt #12: The Year You Were Born

This week, we are prompted to write about what happened the year we were born.  I was born in 1978, and, honestly, most people don't look back at that period with much positive nostalgia.  Disco was king in the pop music world, the U.S. was smack in the middle of the mediocre Carter administration, and another energy crisis was looming.  However, researching for this exercise made me realize that a lot of important things in history, sports, and pop culture DID happen in 1978, which made me feel better about this era in which I was born. (The events are not listed in chronological order, but they all occurred sometime in 1978.)

TV
- Premieres of Dallas, The Incredible Hulk, and WKRP in Cincinnati, Mork & Mindy
- Other popular TV shows: Laverne & Shirley, Three's Company, Happy Days, Taxi, and M*A*S*H

Mork & Mindy

Print
- Carl Sagan is awarded a Pulizter Prize for his 1977 book, The Dragons of Eden
- Cartoonist Jim Davis creates his Garfield comic strip

Garfield and Friends

Movies
- Grease, Superman, National Lampoon's Animal House, The Deer Hunter, The Wiz, Halloween

Music
- Popular Songs:
     - Night Fever, Stayin' Alive, and How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees
     - You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
     - Baby Come Back by Player
     - Just The Way You Are by Billy Joel
     - Lay Down Sally by Eric Clapton
     - We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions by Queen
     - Take A Chance On Me by ABBA
     - Dust In The Wind by Kansas
     - Last Dance by Donna Summer
     - Grease by Frankie Valli and You're The One That I Want by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John

Sports

- Super Bowl XII: Denver Broncos vs. Dallas Cowboys.  Dallas wins 27-10.

- PGA Master's Champion: Gary Player

- Wimbledon: Bjorn Borg defeats Jimmy Connors; Martina Navratilova defeats Chris Evert

- NBA: Washington Bullets defeat the Seattle Supersonics in seven games.

- Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens defeat Boston Bruins

- Indianapolis 500 Winner: Al Unser (his third win)

- Major League Baseball World Series: New York Yankees defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers

- FIFA World Cup: Argentina defeats the Netherlands

- U.S. Thoroughbred Racing: Affirmed wins U.S. Triple Crown, just barely beating out rival Alydar in the Belmont Stakes.  There has been no U.S. Triple Crown winner since.

International News

- Solomon Islands gain independence from the United Kingdom.

- Roman Catholic cardinal, Karol Wojtyla becomes Pope John Paul II.  He remains pope until his death in 2005.  (This was a huge deal for my Dad's side of the family, who were Polish Catholic.)

- First "test-tube" baby born in Britain.

- American followers of cult leader Jim Jones commit mass suicide in Jonestown, Guyana, South America

- Isralei Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat sign the Camp David Accords at Camp David, Maryland, in the presence of U.S. President Jimmy Carter. Begin and Sadat later win the 1978 Nobel Peace Prize.

Sadat, Carter, and Begin at Camp David, Maryland (Source: Wikipedia)

U.S. News
- Margaret A. Brewer becomes the first female general in the U.S. Marine Corps.
- First legal gambling casino in the Eastern U.S. opens in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

Local News

- I was born in the Cleveland, Ohio area.   At the end of January 1978, Cleveland experienced extremely bad blizzard conditions, which essential shut down Northeast Ohio and lead to 51 fatalities.  Considering that I was born in early November 1978, this weather event likely played no small part in me being here today (do the math :-)  Click HERE for a short slideshow of some incredible photos from the event.

Front Page of The Cleveland Plain Dealer, January 27, 1978

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

The Book Of Me, Prompt #11: Military

On this Veteran's Day, as on every Veteran's Day, I will take some extra time to remember my maternal grandparents, Dina Licciardi Bellan and William Bellan.  Both served during World War II.  My grandfather, a child of Croatian immigrants, was in the U.S. Army, 37th Infantry Division, 134th Field Artillery.  He fought in the Bougainville Campaign in the South Pacific during the War.

William Bellan

William Bellan with some of his fellow infantrymen, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 1944.

My grandmother was born in northern Italy and immigrated to the U.S. with her parents when she was about six years old.  Her father served in the Italian Army during World War I.  She joined the U.S. Coast Guard SPARS, which was a women's division of the Coast Guard created in 1942.  She spent most of her time working and training in Florida.

Dina Licciardi Bellan

My grandmother kept a wonderful photo album documenting her time in the Coast Guard.  There are photos of her and many of her fellow SPARS and visiting servicemen, as well as photos of their training drills and facilities in Florida.  Many of the photos in the album are labeled with individuals' names and where they were from.  I tell myself that someday, if I ever get the time, I am going to use my "awesome" genealogy skills to track down the descendants of her friends pictured.  I do know that she kept in touch with a few of her Coast Guard friends until she passed away in 1997.

Page from Dina's Coast Guard Photo Album.

After the war, they both returned to live with their parents in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.  They met each other at a local USO event and were married in 1947.  Here is their engagement announcement from the local Catholic War Veterans newsletter dated 2 Feb 1947:

The Book Of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

The Book of Me, Prompt #10: Unexplained Memories

In this week's prompt, we are encouraged to discuss any memories of our past that we have that either don't make sense in a certain context or ones that we fully don't understand, etc.  This prompt is difficult for me, because I have a *very* good memory.  I remember people and places and events from when I was as young as 3-4 years old, and it's not because older people have told me about them.  My memory was my greatest asset in school, and it is undoubtedly the main reason I always did so well in school.  My memory is very spatially-oriented.  I would be taking a test at school, and I could actually picture where in my study notebook or textbook that particular fact or information was located.  I think this spatial memory, if that's what you want to call it, is also why I love reading and looking at maps.

So, the answer to this prompt, is no, I don't have any unexplained memories but I have a TON of other memories, so watch out if you cross me, because I WILL remember.  :-)   

The Book of Me, Prompt #9: Halloween

The Book of Me, Prompt #9: Halloween

Halloween has always been one of my very favorite holidays.  My family celebrated it every year by decorating the house, carving pumpkins, dressing up in costume, and, of course, by trick or treating around the neighborhood. My mom probably wouldn't describe herself as a 'crafty' person, but she did a pretty good job of making some of our costumes.  My dad was elementary school administrator and he dressed up just about every year for his kids at school. When I was a teenager and past the age of trick-or-treating, I used to take my younger siblings out around the neighborhood, OR I would stay at home and pass out candy so that my parents could take the younger ones.  Even today, I really enjoy staying back at home and being able to say 'hi' to ALL the neighborhood kids and see what they are dressed as.  

Halloween 1984.  I was a ghost and my brother was a Ghostbuster

Carving pumpkins with my family, 1990

Since my childhood, it has become larger and much more commercial, but I don't mind too much since it means more fun opportunities for my own children. Our Children's Museum has a wonderful non-scary 'haunted house,' and many zoos have Halloween festivals throughout the month of October.  Local schools and churches also have 'trunk or treat' events in which people 'tailgate' in a parking lot while the children go around collecting goodies. Halloween is wonderful at bringing neighborhoods and communities together in a way that is so much fun for children.  And the act of dressing up and role-playing is just SO great for kids' imaginative development; we actually have a 'dress-up' bin on our basement where all of our old Halloween costumes go.  I encourage the kids to play dress-up all throughout the year - not just at Halloween.

My son's 1st Halloween, 2008

Helping Dad clean out pumpkin, 2009

My daughter as a ladybug, 2011

Halloween 2012, the firefighter and his firehouse dog

The Book Of Me, Prompt #8: Time Capsule

Prompt #8: Time Capsule

For this post, we are supposed to create either a literal or figurative time capsule that reflects either ourselves or a loved one OR that represents a certain time or event.  I have chosen to create a time capsule for myself, since through this Book of Me, I am trying to capture who I am for my children and hopefully grandchildren someday.  For now, it will just be a figurative capsule; perhaps in the future, I will make it into a physical time capsule.

When I imagine a time capsule, I think of a box or container - something that's not very big and that will not hold many items.  So, I am envisioning things that would fit in maybe a large shoe/boot box.  

1.) A compression stocking:  It is something that I wear on my leg all day every day of my life and it represents a physical 'disability' (hate that word) that I have had to deal with my entire life.  (You can read more about that in this post.)  

2.) University degrees:  My children don't know me as anything other than a mom, and I want them to realize that I once had other ambitions and dreams.  Becoming a meteorologist was something that I had wanted to do since I was about ten years old, and my degrees represent the fulfillment of that goal.  At this point, it doesn't look as if I will ever work in that profession again, but I want my descendants to know that I loved the weather and climate enough to spend six years of my life formally studying it.

My Master's Degree

3.) A USB drive of all my genealogy research and family photos: Since giving up my career to become a mom, family history research has been my hobby and passion, and I am very proud of what I have learned and collected over the past few years.  I'd also put my blog posts on the same drive, because I've spent countless hours writing about the stories of my and my husband's family and I really want my descendants to read those someday.

4.) Usernames and passwords for Facebook, Twitter, blogging, and 'cloud' storage accounts: Recently, my husband and I were reading through some of our old Facebook posts from several years ago, and it was wonderful how they really helped us remember the times when our kids were younger and the struggles/joys we were experiencing as new parents. 

5.) Grandmother's rosary: I was trying to come up with some sort of memento or symbol to represent me as a mother, which is what encompasses most of my time and energy these days.  I was also struggling to find a way to include the fact that I am a Catholic, but my recent struggles with my faith make me reluctant to put something as powerful as a Bible in the capsule.  So, for my time capsule, I am going to include my grandmother's rosary. Obviously, it is a family heirloom that belonged to a dear loved one, but it also represents the Blessed Mother. During my very difficult pregnancy with my son, I prayed a rosary every day, asking for Mary's intercession.  My son and I made it through the pregnancy just fine.

Grandma Bellan's Rosary

6.) My AAA membership card (American Automobile Association), my passport, and our U.S. National Parks stamp book: I love to travel, and thankfully, I married a man who loves it as much as I do.  We love visiting national parks and monuments.  We bought this little book on our honeymoon; every time you visit a national park, monument, trail, landmark, etc, you get a stamp with the date on it. It's a great way for remembering where you've been and where you still need to visit.  

U.S. National Parks Passport Stamp Book

7.) A tea bag and an empty cold cereal box:  I have at least one cup of strong black hot tea every day, even in the heat of the summer.  And if there were one type of food I could survive on for the rest of my life, it would be cold cereal.  I sometimes eat it for dinner, and, yes, my husband makes fun of me.

8.) A photo or postcard showing Cleveland, Ohio.  I haven't lived there in 15 years, but it's where I grew up and where most of my family still lives.  It will always be my hometown.

Cleveland, Ohio (source: Wikimedia Commons)

9.) Knitting needles or one of my small knitting creations: I love to knit, and don't get enough time to really do it properly these days.  I can see myself getting back into it more as my kids get older.  (And, not to toot my own horn too much, but I was pretty good at it!)

A hat that I made for my son

10.) A pair of thick, warm socks: My feet are always cold. Even in the summertime, I have to wear a pair of socks to bed.

11.) A list of my favorite books: I love to read.  I obviously can't put all my favorite books into the time capsule, but I would make a list of my favorites and put that in instead.  (And I really am going to make this list, thanks to this prompt.)  It's going to consist of a lot of 'classics,' but also some historical non-fiction, biographies, and fantasy/young adult dystopia.  I hope my children embrace reading for fun as much as I do.

12.) A USB drive or a CD filled with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.  Now, I love many different genres of music, including a lot of modern-day pop and rock music, but Bach's music is just beauty and emotion in musical form.  In my eyes, it is what music should be, it is how music should make you feel, if that makes sense.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 25: Family Pets

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 25: Family Pets

Growing up, I didn't have any pets at all until I was about 12 years old.  I had begged and begged my parents for a dog for the longest time, and they finally got me one at about the same time as my sister was born.  She came with the name Cookie and we did not change it.  She was a black cocker spaniel mix and we never knew what her exact age was.  She was full-grown and house-trained when my Dad brought her home, but that was it as far as her training.  She was also not spayed, but my parents took care of that very soon.  She loved going for walks, even though most of the time she choked herself from pulling too hard on the leash.  I also loved taking her for walks.  My Dad ran a clothesline from our house to our big tree in the backyard and we attached a leash to it so that she would have the run of the backyard.  When she was young, she was a very fast runner.  With toddlers in the house, the door was left open way too often and she took full advantage of that.  I can't tell you how many times my brother and I ran through the neighborhood trying to find her when she was on one of her "adventures."  She liked to sit by the screen door or stand at the window to see who was walking by outside.  And then she'd bark at them - we always knew when someone was out there.

Our dog Cookie, about 1998 when she was first starting to go grey

I didn't have a lot of friends through high school, but she was always there for me.  She lived a very long time - I was probably in my late 20s when she finally passed away.  I still miss her a lot and haven't gotten another dog since then.

My husband grew up with dogs, but when we bought our first house, we knew we couldn't get a dog because of the long hours we both worked.  So, we decided to adopt a couple of cats.  (We wanted to get two so they wouldn't be lonely during the day when we were gone.)  We went to the local shelter and found two young adult cats that the volunteers there had labeled as 'friends.'  They were pretty affectionate towards us, so we took them home.  We named the black one 'Josie' and the orange tabby 'Lucy.'  They are still alive and kicking, although they have slowed down a bit over the years.  They are still 'lap cats' and also love sleeping on our bed at night.  Both are very good with the kids and put up with a lot of tail-pulling and face-poking.

Josie and Lucy on one of the afghans I knitted.

About a year ago, we also got a guinea pig!  She is all white, so on the way home from the pet store, my son named her 'Marshmallow.'  

Marshmallow the guinea pig

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 24: Family Careers

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 24: Family Careers

As I have mentioned before, both me and my husband are meteorologists.  He works for an environmental permitting company (They basically help various factories and industries apply for EPA permits and they also use computers to model air pollution dispersion.)  I currently stay at home full-time with our children.  Before we had kids, I worked for a couple of years as a meteorology instructor at Valparaiso University.  After that, I worked for a large reinsurance company in Chicago.  My job consisted of making weekly reports on natural disasters around the world.  We also ran computer catastrophe models for our clients, and if a storm (like a hurricane) was threatening land, we issued real-time reports on location and strength for our clients.  

My dad is in education.  For most of his career, he has been an elementary school principal.  My mom has had several jobs.  When my brother and I were very young, she worked nights at a pizza parlor. (We ate a lot of pizza!).  Then she had an office job for a little while.  She became a full-time stay-at-home mom when I was about seven and stayed with that until I was probably thirteen.  She then took a part-time evening/weekend job with Sears' credit card division and stayed with that until they shut down the office probably almost ten years ago.  Now she works for her local public school system doing office work for the district's nutrition program.

My siblings have all followed different career paths.  One of my brothers majored in marketing and he now works in a large bank's trust department.  Another brother studied criminal justice in college and now works in a correctional facility.  My final brother majored in communications and works a customer service job right now.  My sister, who is still in college, is majoring in art/graphic design.

My mom's dad worked as a printer for a printing company and my dad's dad was a plumber.  One of my great-grandfathers owned and operated a hardware store between the 1920s and 1940s, and another great-grandfather owned a clothing/embroidery business.  I think I have a bit of them inside me, because I always think about trying to start a business once the kids get a little older.  (What that business would entail, I have no idea yet!)

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 23: School Days

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 23: School Days

Growing up, my siblings and I all attended Catholic schools from Kindergarten all the way up through high school.  (My parents also went to Catholic schools as kids.)  My kids are attending public schools.  

My parents both attended Cleveland State University for college.  My mom got a degree in Psychology and my dad got a degree in Education.  I got a BS in meteorology from Valparaiso University in Indiana and my husband got his meteorology degree at The Ohio State University.  We both attended Penn State University to get our MS meteorology degrees.  

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 20: Extended Family

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 20: Extended Family

I have a lot of extended family members that I'm close to and who have been very important in my life. My Dad has two sisters and one brother.  I have four cousins on that side of the family and they are all just a little younger than me, so when we would all get together, we would have lots of fun playing.  We still get a little crazy and silly when we see each other at Christmastime.  One of my Dad's sisters, my Aunt Marian, is my godmother and she has been very kind to me and my kids over the years. My Dad's aunt, Aunt Helen, only just passed away a couple of years ago, so I got to know her well over the years. Her sister (my grandmother) died when I was only four, so, in many ways, she acted as a surrogate grandmother to me, my siblings, and my cousins.

My Mom has only one brother, Uncle Bill. When I was little, he lived in Tennessee, so we only got to see him a couple times a year. He had one son (my cousin), who was a few years older than me, and we didn't get to see him much at all either.  Fast forward to about six years ago.  My husband and I were expecting our first child and we were living in Kentucky, very close to where my Uncle Bill and His wife, Sharon were now living. I was having major complications with the pregnancy. I had to go to the hospital three times a week to have ultrasounds. Thank goodness for my Aunt Sharon - she came with me to every appointment and even kept me company when I was admitted to the hospital for a couple of weeks before the birth.  My parents were four hours away in Cleveland, and due to work, my husband could not be with me all the time. I don't know what I would have done without her. Now that we've moved to Indiana! we don't see Bill and Sharon as much as we used to, but we do try to make an effort to visit, because they are sort of an extra set of grandparents to my kids.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 19: Siblings

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 19: Siblings

I am the oldest of five children. I have three brothers and one sister. One of my brothers is only 18 month younger than me; my other two brothers are 7 and 9 years younger than me. I was 12 when my   sister was born. With such a wide range of ages, it was an interesting dynamic. My closet-in-age brother was my first playmate, so I have many memories of us playing together when we were young. However, as preteens and teenagers we didn't always get along so well.  Since I was so much older than my other siblings, I feel like half of my time spent with them was as a playmate and half was as a caretaker, especially once my sister came along. 

I now live in Indiana and all of my siblings live in Northeast Ohio. I get to see them usually only a few times per year.  One of my brothers works for Key Bank in their trust department. Another one is a correctional officer at a county jail and the other one works as a customer service/sales representative for the Cleveland Browns. My sister is in her senior year at The University of Akron, where she is studying graphic design.  I am not super-close to any of my siblings. We get along when we see each other and share lots of inside jokes from when we were growing up, but we don't call or text each other regularly. My one brother just got married this past summer, but my other siblings are not married. I am the only one with children. 

My husband has two older brothers and one younger sister. We all got married within two years of each other and there are now nine grandchildren on that side, where the oldest one is seven and a half and the youngest is three. It is crazy fun for the kids when we are all able to get together on that side, but most of them still live a few hours away, so it only happens a few times a year. 

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 18: Family Food

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 18: Family Foods

*Sigh* I am not the most motivated cook, and neither is my husband, so our usual daily dinners are usually not very exciting.  In addition, my children are very picky eaters, so it's not even worth it for us to try new recipes because there is a 95% chance they won't eat it.  Usually for me and my husband, I make tacos, meatloaf, or chicken entrees.  My kids will eat pasta (no sauce, just butter and cheese), French toast, Mac n Cheese, pizza, cheeseburgers, and maybe an occasional cheese quesadilla.  They do like cereal with milk, string cheese,  waffles, yogurt, and fruit, and there have been many days when I just make a meal out of any combination of those foods for them.  

We do enjoy eating out, and we probably do so more than we should.  My husband and I would love to try more different ethnic food places, but we usually just end up going somewhere like Steak N Shake or Applebee's because we know the kids will actually eat something there.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 17: Family Parties

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 17: Family Parties

Some of my very best memories of childhood are from family get-togethers and parties.  I am the oldest of five children, but we also had four cousins who all lived nearby and were all around the same age as most of us, so getting together with family meant lots of crazy playtime with them.  We got together with my aunts and uncles and cousins for every birthday, Thanksgiving, and for special occasions like baptisms and first communions.  Our Christmas celebration on my Dad's side of the family always happened on Christmas Eve at my grandfather's house.  All of my aunts and uncles were there along with my cousins.  There would be a fire in the fireplace in the family room where the Christmas tree, stockings and presents were located.  We would eat a big meal, and I always loved being at the 'kiddie table' - those were some good, silly times. After dinner, the adults had coffee and my grandpa, dad and uncles always played a game of pinochle together before we were allowed to open gifts.  As a kid, that game always took sooooo long!

On my mom's side, my grandparents had a BIG 40th wedding anniversary celebration when I was about nine years old.  It was in a large church hall with a live band and catering.  A couple of years before that, my parents hosted at our house a 90th birthday party for my great-grandmother.  A lot of extended family members came to that one, some who I didn't get to see all that often because they lived out of town.

By nature, I am NOT a party-planner, so we haven't had big birthday parties for my kids every year.  We did have family over for their first birthdays and baptisms, and then just a couple of months ago, I had a big party at our house for my daughter's third birthday.  We rented an outdoor bounce house for the kids to play in.  A friend who is an amazing baker made cupcakes and we ordered pizza.  It was a lot of fun, but even though it was relatively simple, it was still a lot of work.  Still, I'm sure we'll have lots more birthday, first communion, and graduation parties in the future, because I want my kids to have the same good memories of family parties that I have from my childhood.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 16: Family Vacations

31 Days to Write the Story of Your Family

Day 16: Family Vacations

I've mentioned in a previous post that my husband and I love traveling with our kids and taking them on vacations. And while we have been to a couple 'beachy,' touristy places, we are not really beach people, so we try to create other types of vacations.  We love history and we love visiting national historic places and national parks.  We went to the Black Hills of South Dakota on our honeymoon, and on our 'babymoon' we went to the Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park in Utah.  We've also visited various old military forts and settlements, as well as Native American monuments.  I am a big city kind of person, so I love taking my kids to different cities and exploring the streets, museums, shops and restaurants.  

Our son in front of the Castillo de San Marcos, St. Augustine, FL

With my daughter and son in front of St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans

Growing up, we didn't travel too much, and we when we did, we always drove.  (I was 18 before I ever flew on an airplane.)  We visited my aunt and uncle in North Carolina a couple of times and another uncle in Tennessee.  My brothers played hockey growing up, and there was always a winter tournament in Buffalo, NY that they competed in.  Seriously, who visits Niagara Falls in January?  We did!

With my three brothers, Niagara Falls, 1990

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 15: Fall and Winter

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family

Day 15: Fall and Winter

Fall has always been my favorite time of year.  I don't handle the heat of summer too well, so it's always such a relief for me when the temperatures cool down.  My birthday is in November, and so is my son's birthday, so, when you add Thanksgiving to the mix, we do a lot of celebrating that month.  My kids really like doing little 'nature hikes' in the fall, because they like to pick up the fallen leaves and acorns to look at them and collect them.  We usually go to at least one pumpkin patch as a family during the autumn, and this year I took my daughter apple-picking for the first time.  It was so much fun; I definitely want to make it a yearly tradition.  Over the past couple of years, my son has also played soccer in the fall, so I look forward to going to his games to watch him play.

In December, we celebrate Christmas.  We try to make it a month-long celebration that encompasses the religious aspect of the holiday, so the kids just don't think it's all about presents.  Last year, my son made an Advent wreath at school, and we lit a candle every week leading up to Christmas.  My kids aren't really into sledding yet, but they do enjoy playing outside in the snow.  I grew up ice-skating a lot during the winter months.  I'd like to teach my kids to skate, but there aren't any ice skating rinks near our town - we're going to have to drive a little bit to find one.  Last year, one of the nearby towns had a drive-thru holiday light show/display.  It was fun and I'm sure we'll do that again this year.

The Book of Me, Prompt #7: Grandparents

I am fortunate enough to have at least some memories of each of my four grandparents.  They were all children of working-class immigrants.  Most of them, maybe with the exception of my maternal grandmother, grew up without much money or many possessions.  They grew up bilingual at a time when it wasn't 'cool' to be bilingual.

My paternal grandmother, Veronica Sophie Bodziony, was born in 1919 in Cleveland, Ohio. Both of her parents were Polish immigrants, and she had five siblings who lived into adulthood.  I knew her the least of all my grandparents; she passed away of cancer complications when I was only four and a half years old.  My parents and aunts and uncle believe she would have survive had she been diagnosed with today's medical advances, but it was the early 1980s and the advancements just weren't there yet.  I remember her in the kitchen - always in the kitchen.  From what I've been told, she was a great cook and a fabulous baker.  She also crocheted and sewed, although I have no memories of her ever sitting down.  Around the time she got sick, she bought a little yellow bird and I remember helping her clean out its cage.  (That bird lived probably for 10-15 years after she died, and my grandfather continued to care for it that whole time.)

Veronica Bodziony Senior Yearbook

She was the first high school graduate of her family.  She married my grandfather in 1939, and they had four children between 1946 and 1955.  She passed away in 1983 at the age of 64.

Veronica Bodziony Kowalski with her husband, Cas and three of their children

Her husband and my paternal grandfather, Casimer John Kowalski, was born in 1915, also in Cleveland, Ohio.  His parents were also Polish immigrants.  He was the youngest of four boys, and the only one of them born in America.  His mother passed away of appendicitis when he was only four years old.  Her death split up the family temporarily; in the 1920 census, his father and two older brothers were living with a 'cousin,' his other brother was living with another family and is listed as 'adopted,' and I cannot find where he was living.  My great-grandfather remarried in 1921, which brought them all back together.  

Casimer's father owned and operated a neighborhood hardware store, which the family also lived above. My grandfather left high school early, worked in a foundry for a little while, and eventually became a union plumber.  I have many memories of him coming over our house to fix our toilets and pipes, even when he was quite elderly.  He was always pro-union and wouldn't even shop at the local grocery store that employed non-union members. 

Grandpa Kowalski (kneeling, 2nd from right in white t-shirt) with one of his baseball teams

He also LOVED baseball.  From what I've been told he was a very good player and he worked as a Greater Cleveland Slow-Pitch umpire for 50 years.  He was usually a difficult person to talk to, unless you wanted to talk baseball, and then it became easy to have a real conversation with him.  He was the last of my grandparents to pass away - almost 87 years old when he died in 2002.  I'll always be grateful for the financial assistance he provided to my parents and my aunts and uncles, so that they could send me, my four siblings, and my other four cousins to parochial schools.  It's probably not what he had planned to do with his life savings and pension before my grandmother passed away, but I think he turned a tragic situation into something very positive and beneficial for his grandchildren. When my sister graduates from college in May, my grandfather's nine grandchildren will have accumulated fourteen bachelor's and advanced university degrees.  And much of the credit goes to this man who wasn't able to finish high school himself, but who saw the value in a good education.  

Grandpa Kowalski counting money at his local church.

My maternal grandmother, Dina Christine Licciardi, was born in 1914 Iselle, Italy, a small town in extreme northern Italy, right on the Swiss border.  Her father, a Sicilian, was in the Italian Army when he met my great-grandmother in Milan.  After WWI, my great-grandfather immigrated to America in 1920, and my great-grandmother, grandma, and great aunt followed in 1921.  They, too, settled in Cleveland, Ohio.  My great-grandfather ran a tailoring/embroidery business and was very active in the city's Italian-American community.

The Licciardi Family, 1937 (Dina seated on right)

Grandma Dina did not 'settle down' right away with a husband like most girls her age at the time.  She attended a secretarial school for a couple of years, and, shortly after the U.S. entered WWII, she joined the Coast Guard Women's Reserve (SPARS).  She spent most of her time training and working in Florida at that time, and fortunately for me, kept a very nice photo album of her time there.  She made some very good friends at that time - women with whom she kept in touch for many decades later.  She met my grandfather, an Army veteran, at a USO event after the war and they married in 1947.  They had two children and moved out to the suburbs where they both became active in their parish church.  (They were founding members of the parish where my parents were married, where three of my siblings were baptized, and where I was married.)

Dina Licciardi

Grandma Dina was probably the grandparent I knew the best.  She and my grandfather babysat us a lot when we were kids and we visited their house frequently.  My brother and I loved to explore her basement. They had a large pantry down there that we used to hide in, and an old bar where we used to find old New Year's Eve party favors. There was an big old console record player with Perry Como and Dean Martin albums stored in it.

Grandma and Grandpa Bellan as an engaged couple, New Year'sEve 1946

She was my confirmation sponsor in high school, and I lived with her for the last two years of her life.  We did not always get along.  In my eyes, she had somewhat 'old-fashioned' views about the roles of men and women.  I remember one day she scolded me for not leaving enough dinner for my Dad before he got home from work, saying something about how he should have first choice because he was off working hard for the family.  Um, yeah, not something a 16 year old career-driven girl wants to hear.  Now that I am a stay-at-home-mom, I think I better understand her motivation behind comments like that, and I appreciate all of the cooking housework she did for 40+ years of her life.  She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer around Thanksgiving 1996 and by January 1997 she was gone.  At that point, she was living in her house and I remember holding my 6 year old sister in my arms while we watched the priest give her the Last Rites in her bedroom.  I didn't cry then, but that night in my room I did by myself.  I keep the flag that covered her casket in my kitchen, in the hopes that her phenomenal cooking skills will somehow rub off on me.  (Hasn't worked yet.)

Her husband, William Bellan, was the child of Croatian immigrants.  He was born in 1914 in Lorain County, Ohio, but grew up on the east side of Cleveland.  He had seven siblings, all except one who were older than him.  Three of his older siblings passed away as young adults in the 1920s; my mom says that he never talked about them, so I just assume they were just bad memories he didn't want  He studied printing in high school and he worked for a publishing company most of his life.  He served in the Army during WWII and for much of the time he was stationed in the Solomon Islands.  

Bill Bellan's U.S. Army Portrait

Grandpa Bellan loved to golf and play games with us. I wrote a blog post on his birthday last spring detailing some of my memories with him.  He liked to build things with wood.  He built a sandbox for me and my brother, and I still use a small bookshelf that he made.  Grandpa was pretty laid back and just had a tendency to 'go with the flow.'  My grandmother was more of the structured, organized planner in the partnership.  He passed away in 1989 when I was ten years old.  It was difficult for my grandma; she was a social person and it was hard for her to live alone.  She would call our house everyday to talk to whoever would listen.  But, I think it made her a stronger person and it made me admire her more.  After forty years of never driving, she relearned and even bought herself a new car.  She continued to stay active in the church and still loved going to meet up with old friends.  

Me with Grandpa Bellan, 1980

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 14: Spring and Summertime

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family

Day 14: Spring and Summertime

Our family usually marks the beginning of Spring by celebrating Easter.  The kids like to go on Easter egg hunts and we all dress up and attend Easter Sunday mass together.  We don't have any birthdays to celebrate in the springtime, though.  My kids love to play outside, so it's pretty hard for them during the winter when they are all cooped up in the house.  Spring is so wonderful because they get to play outside more and they are just generally happier because of that.  I look forward to my perennials coming up every year, and I find the anticipation especially exciting if I planted new bulbs the previous fall.  I also look forward to the return of baseball in the spring.  My extended family just loves following baseball, so it's sort of ingrained within me. 

My kids also love going to parades, so we usually take them to the local parades on Memorial Day and on the Fourth of July. Our wedding anniversary is on July 3rd, so we usually celebrate that during the Fourth of July week/weekend as well.  Our neighborhood pool is open between Memorial Day and Labor Day each year, and, of course, the kids love going there as much as possible.  My daughter's birthday is towards the end of August, and it is wonderful to have friends and family over to celebrate and enjoy the pleasant outdoor weather together.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 13: The Things You Do Together

Day 13: The Things You Do Together

What do we enjoy doing together as a family?  We very much enjoy going out to eat on the weekends, which is something I look forward to every week (partially because it means I don't have to cook).   Along those same lines, we go out to get frozen yogurt fairly frequently (probably too frequently).  Whenever my son has a soccer game, we all go to that together and cheer him on.  We sometimes like going to local parks, especially ones that have wooded paths so that we can go on little nature hikes.  My husband and I really like to travel, so we try to do as much of that as possible with the kids.  Two years ago, we vacationed in Northern Michigan.  This past spring we took a road trip down to the Mississippi Gulf Coast and New Orleans, and just a few weeks ago, we visited Chicago (one of my favorite places).  We are going to Niagara Falls next week!

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 12: Looks and Personalities

Day 12: Looks and Personalities

I am the oldest of five children in my family, and I always thought we looked pretty different from one another. I used to call us a "sitcom" family, because, like the actors in a sitcom family, we didn't really resemble each other that much.

Me with my parents and siblings, 1997

My mom has brown eyes and very dark, thick hair, while my dad has blue eyes and light, thin hair.  My brothers, sister, and I all have brown eyes, but our hair color varies.  My hair is brown with a very slight tinge of red in it.  My sister's hair is much lighter than mine or my brothers' hair and her skin is fairer.  I inherited my mom's yellow-toned skin, which is nice because I don't burn in the sun as easily as my dad does.  I am taller than average at 5'8" and two of my brothers are around 6 feet, which is much taller than my dad.  My other brother is only about as tall as me, so he lost out on the tall gene.

My personality is very much more like my dad's than my mom's.  I am an introvert and like spending time alone.  I also have a shorter temper, much like him, though I'm working on that.

Me with my siblings, 2007 (I am pregnant here.)

As far as my kids, I think my son looks more like my husband and my daughter looks more like me.  My husband has blue eyes, fair skin and dark hair, although as a kid his hair was pretty light.  He is also about the same height as me. (My mother-in-law is pretty short.)  My son has blue eyes and, just over the past year, I've noticed that his skin freckles after being out in the sun, which is similar to what happens to my husband.  My daughter has brown eyes, like me and her facial features are more like mine.  Her hair is darker than my son's, and it will probably get even darker as she grows older.  I have a feeling, though, that my daughter has inherited my mother-in-law's 'short' gene because she is not as tall as my son was at this age.  My kids' personalities are very similar - stubborn, persistent, and outgoing.  They definitely got the stubbornness from me, but my husband and I joke about the outgoing part, because we were both pretty shy when we were kids.  That gene must have skipped a generation!

Me with my husband, son, and daughter, October 2013

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 11: Legends and Lore

Day 11: Legends and Lore

The older members of my family weren't really storytellers, so I don't have many elaborate stories about my grandparents or great-grandparents.  My Italian great-grandfather immigrated to America before his wife and children in order to get a job and home for his family before they came over.  My uncle told me that my Italian great-grandmother got tired of waiting for him to send for them so she sold off some of her jewelry and bought passage tickets for herself and her two daughters.  (And I completely believe this story, because I knew my great-grandmother, and it's very much like what she would do.)  

I blog regularly about my and my husband's family histories, but it's mostly about what I have been able to learn about our ancestors from documents and newspaper articles.  I try to include stories about MY childhood, because I know that someday my children and (hopefully) grandchildren will like to hear about the 'olden days' when I was a kid.

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 10: Family Treasures

Most of the family 'heirlooms' that I currently possess are not in any way valuable in the monetary sense, but they do hold sentimental value.  I have already written about some of them on my other blog, so I will just list them and post links.

From my maternal grandmother:

- Wedding photos, Coast Guard photo album

- American flag that covered her casket at her funeral

- Her copy of A Tree Grows In Brooklyn

- Musical snow globe that is neither old nor valuable, but I just have memories of it upon her shelf in her house:

My Grandma's Musical Snow Globe

From my paternal grandmother:

- Cookie tin and her recipe for chocolate chip cookies

I imagine that someday our kids will hang onto my and my husband's wedding bands.  And considering how much time and effort I put into photo albums and family history research, I also hope that at least one of my children will cherish those when I'm gone, too.

The Book of Me, Prompt #6: Journals and Diaries

I do not keep a journal or diary, and really never have for any extended period of time.  When I was a kid/teenager, the thought of writing for "fun" was a complete turn-off.  (My 10th grade English teacher made us write a journal entry every day in class and I dreaded it every day.)  I did a little journaling in a sketch book for a few months in my early 20s when I had just started graduate school.  It was dark stuff, though; like, I'm-so-depressed-I-want-to-kill-myself dark.  I don't know if I've kept that book, or if I've tossed it out during one of my many moves.  Not really sure I would want anyone reading it, anyway.

My way of chronicling my life has always been photography.  Even as a pre-teen, I remember just loving to take photos of my family members.  I tease my younger sister that there wouldn't have been too many baby/toddler photos of her if it weren't for my picture-taking.  When we would go on vacation, I would take the typical 'tourist' photos of interesting sites or buildings.  

When I had finally finished college and graduate school, I started making scrapbooks of my old photos. I made one of my trip to Europe I took when I was 18.  I made three books with photos from my college and graduate schools days.  I didn't have the patience or creativity to really get into scrapbooking like some people do, but it did make my photos more presentable that just being in a plain old photo album.  I also went back to my parents' house and made a Christmas with the Kowalski's scrapbook, using family Christmas photos from the past 30 years or so.  For my younger brother's college graduation, I gave him a scrapbook that I made using photos from his babyhood all the way up through high school graduation.  I intended to do this for my other three siblings, as well, but I then I had my first baby and extra time was not on my side.  Now that all of my photos are digital, I use online scrapbooking services like Shutterfly to make memory books.  It's actually more cost-efficient and there is less craft mess!

A few of my many 'old school' scrapbooks.

I enjoy going back through my old photos and thinking about how my picture-taking has developed and grown, which I know some people do with written journals, too.  I've never taken any sort of photography class, so my own style has developed 'organically,' if you will.  When I was younger, the photos I would take while traveling would be of important structures - museums, churches, landmarks - and myself standing in front of them.  Now, when I travel, I find that I enjoy trying to capture more of the place's culture and environment.  I take more photos of local people, street signs, local plants, and smaller architectural features like unique doors and windows.  I also try to save receipts, maps, ticket stubs, fliers, and restaurant business cards from our travels.  I glue them into my scrapbooks, and, when I go back and look at the books years later, I am amazed at how much those little pieces of memorabilia help me remember the trip better.

A couple of examples of the types of photos I LOVE at this point in my life:  I went on a month-long whirlwind tour of Europe (seven countries) after I graduated from high school.  Most of my photos from that trip are of the buildings and museums and churches - typical tourist photos.  Our last stop was Amsterdam and we were only spending about 24 hours there.  I remember trying to use up the rest of the film in my camera and I took this photo.  Today, this is one of my favorite photos from Amsterdam and from my entire trip. (I've fiddled around with editing the colors a bit here.)  Just so unique to Amsterdam and it tells you so much about the city.

Bicycles in Amsterdam

Last year, my husband and I took a trip to Boston.  We were walking around Cambridge and saw a few teenagers carrying lacrosse poles.  A common sight, yes, for those in the Northeast U.S, but we never see anything like this in Indiana.  They probably thought I was crazy, but who cares!

Lacrosse players in Cambridge, MA

I now also like photos that tell a story.  As a mom, I find myself taking photos of my kids' messes, or even of them when they are mad and/or crying. (Don't worry, I always follow it up with lots of comforting cuddles!)   If my son is deep in thought while trying to build a Lego creation, I'll snap a photo.  When we go out to eat, especially if it is someplace unique and/or special, I take photos of our food and drinks.

My shrimp creole lunch from a cafe in New Orleans.

So, as to whether or not all my photography and scrapbooking counts as a journal, I'm not sure.  Hopefully, my descendants will look at the photos I've taken at different points in my life and, not only have a record, so to speak, of my daily activities, but also be able to deduce my personality and priorities from those photos.  I now have two blogs, so I've definitely been doing more writing about myself and my life over the past couple of years, but I have no doubt that my primary form of documenting my and my family's lives will remain photography. My kids had better buy some 'cloud' space, because they're gonna need it once mama passes on!  

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 9: Those We Miss

Day 9: Those We Miss

I was only able to meet one of my great-grandparents growing up; the other three had passed away before I was born.  My great-grandma Adele was an Italian immigrant who lived to the age of 95.  She was very independent and opinionated and lived in her own apartment until she passed away.  I was 12 years old when she died.

My paternal grandmother passed away when I was four years old.  I don't remember that much about her, but through my family history research, I've learned a little more about her life, and I "miss" having the chance to talk to her more about it.  My maternal grandmother passed away when I was 18.  She was my confirmation sponsor and she lived with us during her last year.  She came to America from Italy when she was six, and served in the Coast Guard during WWII.  I miss her more than my other grandparents; I feel like I have a lot in common with her - more than I do with my own mom.  Except my cooking - I wish my grandmother could come back and give me cooking lessons, because I am an awful cook and she was really good at it.

My mom's dad passed away when I was ten and my dad's dad passed away when I was twenty-three.  I do miss them, too.  I think they would have liked to have met and played with my children.

My children did not have the opportunity to meet any of my grandparents.  Both of my husband's paternal grandparents are still alive and well, so we try to visit them as much as we can when we visit his hometown. (They will be celebrating their 70th(!) wedding anniversary next August.)

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 8: Customs and Traditions

Day 8: Customs and Traditions

In my last post, I talked a little bit about my family's tradition of passing around Oplatki at our Christmas Eve dinner.  This gathering at Christmas Eve is one of my family's favorite yearly traditions.  All of my aunts, uncles, and cousins get together the evening before Christmas to share a meal and exchange gifts.  This all used to take place at my grandparents' home, but after both of my grandparents passed away, my aunt usually has had it at her house.  We eat two kinds of Kielbasa, which is a traditional Polish sausage, and pierogi, which are sort of like dumplings that are filled with cheese, potato, and sauerkraut. 

Smoked Kielbasa (red) and Fresh Kielbasa (brown)

Pierogi

One of my aunts, who is an *amazing* baker also makes a tray full of after-dinner goodies.  The pastries in the center with the powdered sugar are called kolachki and they are just bascially a flaky baked dough filled with any sort of berry or apricot filling.  They are so yummy!  Years ago, my Polish grandmother also used to make (from scratch) a traditional Polish pastry called kruschiki.  My aunt usually buys some from the local ethnic bakery and sets it out after dinner. 

Goodie Tray with Kolachki in center

My son gobbling up kruschiki

As far as traditions and customs in my own immediate family, most of them are centered around seasons and holidays, and a lot of it is what my parents did with me and my siblings when we were little.  Just before Easter, we dye Easter eggs.  The 'Easter Bunny' leaves eggs on the lawn and the kids go egg hunting Easter morning before we go to Mass.  We go to a pumpkin patch in the autumn and choose pumpkins which we then carve for Halloween.  The kids dress up and go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  A couple of years ago, we started the Elf on a Shelf during those few weeks before Christmas.  When our kids get a little older, my husband and I would like to start a family tradition of all of us volunteering at a local food pantry or soup kitchen during the holidays.

My daughter dyeing Easter eggs

31 Days To Write The Story Of Your Family - Day 7: Religion and Culture

Day 7: Religion and Culture

My husband and I are Catholic.  We were both raised by Catholic parents and attended Catholic schools from Kindergarten through high school.  We were married in a Catholic church.  In both of our families, our ancestors were overwhelmingly Catholic going back even into the 1800s and 1700s.  

We are raising our children to be Catholic, although they will not be attending Catholic schools.  We live in an excellent public school district and, frankly, I don't agree with some things that the Catholic Church teaches, so I don't want my kids to be inundated with it.  We do take them to Mass regularly, and at home, we usually just emphasize 'Do unto others...' as our main behavioral life philosophy.  They will attend our parish's religious education program and receive the sacraments, but if, as adults, they decide to join a different Christian denomination or even a different faith, I would support them with that.  

My extended family has retained one tradition that our Polish Catholic ancestors brought over.  Every Christmas Eve, we pass around and share Oplatki, which is basically just a flat and stiff white wafer that you eat.  Each person gets a small portion and then you go around the room, break off a tiny bit from another person's wafer, say some sort of 'blessing' to them, and then eat it.