I was born and raised in South Lake Tahoe, California where I lived with my mother.  She was a hardworking single parent, a saint and a wonderful mother.  I am who I am today because she taught me to never give up, that I could have whatever I wanted if I worked hard enough for it, and to always be myself. My Sicilian grandparents were major contributors in my upbringing and are the reason I grew up bicultural.  Because they didn’t speak very much English I grew up speaking both English and Italian/Sicilian. In the summers my grandparents would take me to Italy and I would visit with all my cousins and neighbors. When I was eleven, my grandparents decided to move back to Sicily because my grandfather had Parkinson’s and wanted to be in his native land. By then, my father had returned to Italy and was living in Firenze.  I missed my grandparents very much so every summer I would cross the big blue ocean all alone to see them.  I stayed all summer long and made many friends that I still hold dear to my heart. As an adult I continue to go to Sicilia to see my grandmother and my father whenever I get the chance.  It has been a great opportunity to be apart of a wonderful culture.