May you, God willing, carry Grandfather Dimi with you until you are gone, and may you pass him along to your children before that time comes so that he can live on in them.
Beautifully written. Whether it's across the ocean or a few dozen miles, anyone who has had to leave their hometown has felt that hurt of homesickness. I know I've felt it. It's a powerful grief. As soon as I had the chance to go home I jumped on it. Driving through the changed-but-familiar streets after years gone, it's a surreal experience.
As a typical North American descendant of Eastern European immigrants, a lot of the names and places where I "come from" have been long lost, aside from vague guesses. Last names changed on paperwork because the original spelling was too hard or whatever (my Romanian great-grandmother). I only know one place for certain, a village that was Hungarian when my grandfather left (pre-wwii). My maiden name is Hungarian and that's what he spoke, but the village is Romanian now. And then I have relatives I thought were Russian but the area they came from is Ukrainian now... and then I married a Ukrainian! All told we go through a lot of sour cream in my house!
I feel homesick for a place that does not exist...
May you, God willing, carry Grandfather Dimi with you until you are gone, and may you pass him along to your children before that time comes so that he can live on in them.
Beautifully written. Whether it's across the ocean or a few dozen miles, anyone who has had to leave their hometown has felt that hurt of homesickness. I know I've felt it. It's a powerful grief. As soon as I had the chance to go home I jumped on it. Driving through the changed-but-familiar streets after years gone, it's a surreal experience.
As a typical North American descendant of Eastern European immigrants, a lot of the names and places where I "come from" have been long lost, aside from vague guesses. Last names changed on paperwork because the original spelling was too hard or whatever (my Romanian great-grandmother). I only know one place for certain, a village that was Hungarian when my grandfather left (pre-wwii). My maiden name is Hungarian and that's what he spoke, but the village is Romanian now. And then I have relatives I thought were Russian but the area they came from is Ukrainian now... and then I married a Ukrainian! All told we go through a lot of sour cream in my house!
❤️🇷🇴