I only have one picture of my grandmother as a child.
It's her first communion picture.
a family photo.
Besides her three brothers and parents, there are other relatives in this photo.
I've known only her, all the others are perfect strangers... what makes me smile is that at least 25% of my genes come from these strangers...

My maternal grandmother represented the sum of four grandparents.
it was "la NONNA".
she was terrible, i feared her until i grew up and could only love her.
This woman was so brave that her father, despite his three sons, considered her "the man of the house"... 
I guess with painful admission.
She spoke 5 languages, despite the fact that, for the obvious reason that she was a woman, she was 
not allowed to pass the 4th grade.

At the age of 19 she was used as a bargaining chip to increase the business of the two wealthy families in the village, giving her to a husband who was twice her age and whom she certainly did not love.

My mother was born out of this un-love and I have to thank being here because of this...

great-grandmother, great-grandfather, great-uncle and stranger
grandmother with little brother on communion day
my grandmother's brothers, my great-uncles...
my great-grandmother, a woman of faith, was said to be very beautiful...
my great-grandfather, he was in Russia during the October Revolution, he walked back from Siberia, taking 5 years,
 it is said that he returned as another man.
one of the "strangers"...no idea of who she could be
Mum at the age of 3 with friend and teddy
Thank You
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