Sunday, February 19, 2006


My life began in Greece. Although my memory of it is very clouded, can't remember beginnigs or endings there. It's one unrefined block. I can't even describe it as very happy or very heartbreaking. In one word I would have to say an average life for a somewhat average family of those means at those times. We had caring parents. We had lack of and surrounded by people with abundance of, that sort of prepared me for my whole life, but not for me when it came to money. Otherwise, I found wealth in being surrounded by a lot of family, friends and neighbors. I remember a loving grandmother too. I'll start there, heaven knows she needs a lot more recognition than she ever received! I usually draw pictures with people playing some type of instrument. It stems from the fact that I have always been fascinated in playing. In my time and my place in Greece, learning to play an instrument of any kind rested largely on your so called status in life. A person with no means did not learn to play. Getting back to my grandmother called "Nona" by us. My nona's story and the birth of my fascination of the arts is as follows: My Grandmother had a guitar once long ago when she was young. She told us tales of romance and glory when young she was. Nona said my grandfather (Papou) serenaded her with that guitar which she kept and together with him sang and played it after married they were. In America years after we arrived, my brother purchased a guitar. There it stood, sometimes picked up by her. We hung it on a nail on the apartment's wall. I could still see sparkles and faraway looks inside her eyes when chords she tried to strike. How wonderful to have such memories of days gone by, rather than empty dreams still waiting to unfold by some slim chance. On this guitar we fumbled a few notes to play, never completely happy with the sound. Perhaps some day the guitar chords will wake my yearning heart and sound their notes of love with crystal clear delight.

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