Thread:Dagoberta/@comment-29954643-20161107235239/@comment-29954643-20161108082622

Hey, Dag - You got it right, I was only 12 years old when my mom went alone to France, so yes, I was trapped in NY (Long Island) with;

my dad (High school English teacher, track and cross-country coach by day, English university professor at night and tutor on weekends), so no help                                                       my older brother (only 11 months older than me, but a guy so no help except to try to order me around)                                                                                                                                         my 4 younger brothers, one of them still in diapers (took their lead from the older one, so no help either)                                                                                                                                               my 1 year old little sister (also in diapers). Did I mention, we only used cloth diapers back then?

We have a HUGE extended family, but my parents didn't ask for any help, so it all fell to me. I was very glad when she returned but I never felt appreciated because in our family culture (especially back then), it's just expected of a woman (even working 'outside of the home' women). Needless to say, I never had the desire to marry (been engaged 4x, but I always got 'cold feet'). I'm sure that I missed so much good stuff, but I also avoided the bad, and I do always have my 14 nephews and 5 nieces :-))

Today, 6 of us still live in the states, but we are somewhat spread out when you realize how very large this county actually is without even considering Alaska and Hawaii. We rarely use public transportation, and drive or fly everywhere. Our railroad and bus systems are not like it is all over Europe except for our subways within the major cities like NYC, Boston, Chicago and a few others and we don't have the Autobahn.

If you care to know more, my parents and 2 of my brothers and their families still live on Long Island (part of what we call the greater NYC area) and my sister lives with her family in Westchester county NY, which is just NW of NYC. But I have 1 brother and his family living near Baltimore, Maryland (which is 192miles/309km south of NYC) and 1 brother and his family living in Ft. Worth, Texas (which is 1,549miles/2,493km SW of NYC). I live on the west coast in Los Angeles county only 4 miles from the Pacific ocean (which is 2,792miles/4,493km SW of NYC).

Gosh, I really do talk (write) a lot. Good practice for reading in English for you, I hope. Didn't play the game much today. Will need to catch up before I settle down for the night and it's already after 11pm (Monday) here, but Guten Dienstagmorgen to you    - El