#4 starts his last football season with a win!

Where does the summer go? When I was a kid, it seemed like summer went along nice and slow. We went to swimming lessons and that was about the extent of the scheduled activities. We rode our bikes and played outside. That was just about it.

This summer began with a visit from Kathleen and Nick, as well as a visit from our summer long companion (or so it seemed): rain. It ended with Ryan's first football game (and victory!) of the season. In between we had baseball, basketball, wisdom teeth, summer school, contacts, cousins, Coffarellis, and an actual running Mustang. Actually now that I put it in writing it seems like quite enough to fill up the last 10 weeks or so.

Back to school wasn't quite the shopping event then that it has become. We did have to sort, repair and re-hem clothes and find lunch pails. The right lunch pail was kind of a big deal as we almost never bought "hot lunch" and you did have to carry the right accessories into the cafeteria. I am very certain my mother was very happy to see that school bus arrive on a regular basis again.

In a way, I'm grateful for what the whole "back to school" season has become. It is like starting fresh again --I will be thinking of you all on my 31st first day back to school (well, I guess it's technically my 44th first day back to school if you count those 13 other years!).

Birth Days and Places

Happy birthday to our girls of summer--Marisa, Mallory, Sarah and Hailey! What a fun way to end the summer each year. I hope everyone has a great day. Looks to me as if Mallory is asking "What's with the cone on my head?" You can see here she is destined for greatness.

Birth days and places have been on my mind. We FINALLY got ourselves together and took ourselves down to get passports. Of course, James is the only one of us without a birth certificate that has a raised seal. The directions said we could bring other documents to support proof of birth if the birth certificate didn't have the raised seal. So we did but the lady behind the counter was having none of it. That's a whole other story, but I ended up ordering a new birth certificate for James, which was surprisingly easier than I expected it was going to be.

The piece of paper I consider to be James' original birth certificate says he was born in Bay Shore--information that makes sense and information we have used every time that information was required. The new "official" birth certificate arrived and says he was born in Islip.

I feel certain I will get nowhere arguing the point with the authorities but to me this is a pretty big problem. Where you are born is an integral part of your history. It shapes you and is carried down through the generations. I am still trying to figure out how to handle this but I want future generations to know their ancestor was born in Bay Shore New York. How can New York State change your place of birth? I am nearly speechless thinking about the implications.

Power of 16

There's a thread running through recent genealogy blogs and discussions about the "great grands"-- your 16 great grandparents. Specifically, can we name our 16 great grandparents? Must be this is where people get stalled.

Now, in case this challenge is presented to you and for those of you who aren't sure allow me to assist: Fortunato and Carolina Parteli Dalpiaz; Francisco and Teresa Odorizzi; Luigi and Mary Cella Messa; Peter and Mary Chesternino Contenta; Giuseppe (and unknown) Coffarelli; Giovanni and Leonarda Dalami Pedano; Pietro and Margherita De Carlo Manzelli; Graziano and Antonia Isoldi. Well, there's 15 of them anyhow--not too bad!

One of the interesting things about this group I noticed when I put these names together is that only Giuseppe Coffarelli came to live in the United States (he was about 90 when he arrived to live with his son). All the others were in Italy. It was the next generation that were the primary immigrants and therefore how your family came to be Americans.

Unfortunately these are pretty much just names in a list. I don't (yet) have any stories or background information to fill out their stories in ways that make them real people. For most of them I don't even yet know hometowns or regions. Maybe I never will but it's the hunt that keeps me going.

Just for fun

Summer 1996 and 2009

We have just returned from our visit to Long Island. As usual, Hotel Hartman was wonderfully comfortable for all of us, even if the "no Vacancy" sign should have been posted out front. Poor Tracy and Prince did not know what to do with all those strange people in their house. Thanks to Linda and Scott for being such great hosts.

Seeing the kids enjoying their time together is a real treat. They truly seem to enjoy their cousin time and they are very lucky to have that special relationship. It's a tribute to the efforts of their parents and family members who make that kind of time a priority. Perhaps it doesn't seem like any big deal to you all but not everyone is this fortunate and it's definitely a blessing. It seemed to be important to your parents and now for you. Since the next generation is beginning to develop (congratulations Brian, Monet, Danielle and Ron!) I feel certain those cousins will be similarly blessed. I sincerely hope so.

We are thinking of Mallory today as her wisdom is removed (according to her Dad if I'm not mistaken). Ryan is out there melting on his first day of football practice. Now it really feels like his senior year has begun!

Pat hosted the Extreme Pool Olympics over the weekend reminiscent of past Dalpiaz Family Olympic events. Enjoy the memories.

1995

2001
2009

We are looking forward to our Long Island journey this upcoming weekend! It's not much of a vacation, but it's what we've got this year.

While we can't always get away physically, thanks to today's technology you can get away virtually. Here's one example you might enjoy: A Walk through Astoria and other places in Queens: photos from the early 1940s. I think it's neat because you see what your grandparents saw every day.

Thanks to Jean for the great Coffarelli reunion. I snagged pictures from Shutterfly--not sure whose they are for certain so I can't give you proper credit but I'm guessing Pat. We spoke to Aunt Rose this week and she's hoping we can all manage to get together sometime soon. Maybe we can talk over some options this weekend. See you soon!

I recently found this letter from Amy and thought you could empathize. I don't recall how old she was when this was written but I do remember offering to help her pack and asking if she needed a sandwich for the road. It was one of those classic family moments.

Although it very rarely happens anymore, I love getting letters in the mail. Emails, Facebook, texting or IM doesn't quite replace getting a letter from someone. A real letter is very rare these days and getting even more so. I treasure the letters I got from Marilyn and re-read them often. It is amazing that I learn something new from them each time I open them even though they are just about as old as Ryan is! Given how many times I have re-read them in the last 17 years, that's alot of new stuff to get out of old letters!

Even though tweeting doesn't quite fulfill that same satisfaction as a letter in the mailbox with your name on it, I recognize this is the way of the world today. I have saved emails from my mother detailing some of her everyday events and I treasure those as much as Marilyn's handwritten letters. But there is something about handwriting that connects you to the writer's personality -- even a signature can give provide that connection sometimes.

I can't quite accept that someday an electronic file will generate the same kind of wistful memories as a letter just like this one.