What if you’d been born in this village in Kenya, East Africa?
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How would your life have been different if:
a). you’d been born the opposite sex
b). your parents hadn’t married each other
c). your family settled in Hong Kong when you were a child
What role has chance played in your life?
“What if?” is one of my favourite questions.
Family history intrigues me and I write about family mysteries inspired by genealogical research to solve them. My books, however, do not necessarily reflect only my unanswered questions. So where do my ideas come from?
Are you in any of my stories?
Traveling teaches us about the world and shows how we are all connected. It gives us the opportunity to cross paths with people and journey to places that we might never have otherwise encountered.
By asking “what if” when I am on an adventure, I imagine family mysteries to explore in my writing.
What if I’d been born in Argentina instead of Canada?
My Nana, Caterina Spagnuolo Andreoli, left Calabria in 1912 and my Nonno, Pietro Perri, in 1910. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean in a steamship, landed at Ellis Island, New York, settled in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada and married in 1915. My father was one of Nana’s nine children.
During the time my grandparents immigrated to North America, over 300,000 Italians went to Argentina. Buenos Aires, the capital city, as a result, has a large well-established Italian community.
- What if my Nana and Nonno had gone to South America and settled in Argentina?
- What if they had never met? Or, decided not to marry each other?
- What if I’d had different parents and siblings as a result?
- What if I’d been born and raised in Buenos Aires instead of Sault Ste. Marie?
- What family mysteries would this life have given me?
Chance played an integral role in my life!
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Would you like an Argentinian adventure?
Of the side pictures are two photographs from my Argentinian travels. I invite you to think about the questions listed with each.
What role did chance play in your life? Just ask yourself, “What if?” I’d welcome your comments.
These are the grounds of a resort in Bariloche, Argentina. a). What if the woman at the picnic table was waving goodbye to her lover? b). What if her family had emigrated here from Italy and promised her to another when she was a child? c). What if she’d just told the man in the boat that she’d decided to end their relationship and honour her family’s wishes.? d).What if the man her parent’s had chosen was his brother? e). What if she was pregnant with her lover’s child but didn’t know it yet? f). What if YOU were that child?
This is a courtyard in La Boca neighbourhood, an area in Buenos Aires, Argentina settled by Italian immigrants, where people played basketball and held dances. a). What if my Nana and Nonno had met and married in La Boca, Argentina? b). What if my mother had been an Argentinian born artist who’d painted the banner and my father, the star basketball player? c). What if they got married and had twins; one of whom was deaf and mute? d). What if people believed the child had been cursed and demanded they leave? e). What if my parents pretended the child had died and gave it away so that they could stay? f). What if YOU were that child?
What if you suffered a concussion and after you recovered, could understand any foreign language?
