Member-only story
Ode to Robbie Burns Day.
It doesn’t matter your background you can still participate!
A few days ago was Robbie Burns Day. Most people when they see me think that I have an Italian heritage, which I do. My father was born in a small village called San Giovanni In Fiore (St. John of the flowers) in 1920. This was in the mountains of southern Italy in the province of Calabria.
My grandfather, whom I never met, had the money to take a ship to Brazil. There was a large colony of Italians there. Unfortunately, he got into a poker game and lost half his savings the night before he was to leave. The next day when they left for the ship he only had enough money to get to Canada.
My father looked like someone out of the Godfather movie and I tend to look like him. Of course, he was raised Catholic. When he went to marry my mother that was an English Canadian there was a huge upset within his family. I am sure my mother’s family wasn’t all that excited about this either.
After having the wedding canceled a few times by the priest, my father said if it happened again then he would marry in the protestant church. Nobody thought he would do such an outrageous thing. This was 1948.
They didn’t count on my dad and they didn’t count on love.
