Talita-Elena Vuvunikyan

Professor Hoffman

IDC 1001H, First Draft

December 4th, 2017

 

Not So Forgotten Letters

Dear Adolfo,

We miss you. It has been warm in Catania and I hope this weather spans all the way to you in New York. Alessa is doing well, she is learning how to write and read. Sometimes she cries at night because she misses you so dearly. Emilio just said “mamma” but I am having a hard time making him say “papà”. I cannot believe you are missing his first everything. He can barely walk now but I still hold him most of the time. Nonna’s health is becoming worse, she is very sick and I am struggling to take care of her as well as our beloved children. I wonder how you are doing? I want to see you already. I have some great news, Catania is opening up their first airport soon. I heard rumors they will call it after Vincenzo Bellini, our favorite composer! Maybe this way, it will be easier for me to come to you, but we do not have that kind of money right now. I hope you finally found a job and can help us escape this place. There is no future here for my children. I miss you, please write back soon.

Love,Cecilia

12 September 1924 

 

 Dear Cecilia,

It is so good to see this letter in such a difficult time. I have walked the streets of New York asking for a job and for a long time I had no luck. But soon a man named Francesco saw my skills and invited me to work for his shop as a cabinetmaker. I am making money and you will soon join me here. I have my eye on a small apartment on Orchard street and I think I can handle the rent. My love, I cannot wait for you to come to me. You should have seen this parade they held in the middle of Manhattan. They had floats, professional bands and even live animals from Central Park zoo. Alessa would have loved to see that. At the end, there was a Santa Clause in Herald Square, I could hardly see him because there were so many people there, but oh Cecilia our kids would love this when they live here. I have not seen this parade before and from what I hear it is the first time they did that. It follows an American holiday called Thanksgiving. It is a time when families spend time together and eat a lot of food. It was hard for me to hear about this day and spend the rest of it by myself. Luckily, my friend Maurizio and I sat outside the shop and ate some walnut bread. I miss the food in Catania. Everything has been going well, I hope you will soon join me. I love you, il mio amore.

Ti amo,

Adolfo

28 November, 1924

 

Dear Nonna,

I am sorry I left you. My heart hurts for you. My children missed their father and I had to come to New York. We moved into a tiny house on Elizabeth street. There are many italianos here and it felt like home. Adolfo, however, forgot to pay September’s rent and we had to move to another house. That is when we found 97 Orchard Street. Oh, Nonna, it is treacherous. The apartment is very different from our house in Catania. There not that much space, it is very dirty and I have a very small kitchen. I do not know how I will cook my famous frittata. Unfortunately, I cannot even make most of the food I made in Catania because we are struggling with money. Adolfo is earning most of his money to pay for rent, but he leaves the rest for the me to use accordingly. As you know, I am not legal here, so Adolfo and I are going to Canada. Adolfo’s friend Maurizio told him that his wife Isabella was able to gain legality by going through this procedure. I will learn more about it and hopefully it will all work out. I miss you nonna, I hope your health is well. Tell nonno and i miei genitori, hello and that I miss them. Stay well.

Love, Cecilia

14 October 1927

 

Dear papa,

I am sorry I have not written in years. Life got in the way and I hoped Cecilia kept in touch with you. We live in a dimly lit and cold apartment on Orchard street in the Lower East Side. It was barely furnished when we got there but just like you taught me I made some cabinets and furniture for the empty rooms. Cecilia keeps complaining about the cold and I do not blame her. She demands us to take cold-water sponge baths every morning and once a week we have the chance to take a tepid bath from the small amount of hot water that comes from the heater attached to the stove. I love that woman but she insists on enemas.  She added life to the cold and dim apartment. She draped fabrics everywhere a skill she learned from her momma. She decorated the windows with lace curtains just like her momma did. She put coverlets in the bed and skirts across the shelves I built. I still speak Sicilian with Cecilia. I try my best to speak English to my children but sometimes it is hard. Papa, I want to raise my children just like you did, with pride in their heritage. But I am having a hard time combining our culture and the American way of life. I wish you were here to help.

Miss you,

Adolfo

20 February 1928 

 

Dear mamma,

I am sorry about Nonna. I feel so guilty leaving her in Catania. Please visit the cemetery for me and put her favorite flowers, oleanders, there. Ever since she passed I kept thinking how I want you here with us. I do not want to miss another event. I wish I could have been at her funeral mamma, but I am stuck here. On a more lighter note, we are doing alright here. We have some birds as pets and I grow flowers on the window sills just like nonna used to do. Adolfo bought a radio and we listen to it night and day. Alessa cannot stop humming along with Fred Waring. She has a great voice and it reminds me a lot of nonna. I think music might be her path. Sometimes she even follows the puzzling, upper middle-class lives of One Man’s family and truly I do not want her to listen to that. It sometimes makes her upset that she is not living the life they do. She is so young. She does not understand so much about this world. I still cook well, just like you taught me. Even though we are struggling I try to keep a smile for Alessa and Emilio. Adolfo and I took them on a trip to Coney Island and Statue of Liberty. It was beautiful mamma, la statua was so big and beautiful. I did not forget our faith of course. I take my children to church three times a week. Novena on Wednesdays, confession on Saturdays and Mass on Sundays. Alessa loves going to the church and it makes me so happy. I cannot teach Emilio Sicilian and sadly it has become more of a secret language between me and Adolfo than a common language in the house. Alessa can speak both, but she seems to be speaking in English way more than she does in Sicilian. I forgot to tell you that they no longer go to the Italian school. Alessa came back chanting “Viva II Duce!” and I immediately stormed to the school screaming at the faculty that they were paying homage to Mussolini. She was not permitted to return to the school, so I sent her to a local American school, same with Emilio. This is all I have for now. I wish I had more to offer. I am sorry I do not write often, trust me, I wish I could but I am constantly taking care of Emilio.I love you so much mamma, please stay healthy and tell papa I said hello.

Ti amo, Cecilia

19 September 1930

 

Dear papa,

It is hard here in New York. I lost my job and now I am self-employed. I walk up and down the streets with my toolbox in hand hoping one of the neighbors will need a job done. Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia decided to clean up New York slums and the tenement buildings. So many landlords, including ours, evicted us. We had trouble finding a new home, but we soon found a small apartment in Bay Ridge. It has been difficult putting food on the table and looking my kids in the eyes and telling them “Everything will be okay.” Cecilia decided to help the family and she sells the dresses she makes to neighbors, making a little amount of money to feed the family. But papa, I try to keep my children happy. Every day we sit and eat as a family and sometimes our conversations drift as far as Italy. They ask so much about you. Alessa remembers you a little bit but Emilio, he does not know you at all. He has seen photographs but I wish he got to know you in real life. He can understand some of my Italian but struggles to talk. It is sometimes boring for them and I try to keep them occupied. I play card games, tell them riddles, and even give them a walk across the Williamsburg Bridge. This Christmas, despite the hardship, I made the kids a tree. I walked around the city for hours finding the perfect pine branches and abandoned wreaths to make the Christmas tree with. I took a long piece of wood and drilled holes in it, then I stuck the tree branches in there. Cecilia helped me decorate it with ornaments and some photographs of our family. Alessa and Emilio sometimes sit quietly by the tree looking at it with hope and love. I love those children papa, I try my best every day to be the perfect father. This is why it is so hard for me to write this letter right now. I can hardly make any money, Cecilia does not rely on me for help anymore, I can see my children looking at me with hope. It is so much for me to handle papa and I do not know if I could keep this up. What kind of husband am I if I am struggling to pay rent every month. What kind of father am I if I spend hours a day looking for jobs that do not exist anymore. What kind of father am I? I do not know if I will ever write again, but I wanted to tell you that I love you and care for you. I am a fool, a coward and I do not want my children growing up to see me like this. Do not tell Cecilia about this letter. I might go very far, probably somewhere in Ohio. My friend Maurizzio told me he has a job there for me. I will work there by myself and hope that my family is better off without me. Please do not be disappointed in me father. I simply have no other choice.

Ti amo,

Adolfo

10 April 1935