I was adopted and raised in California by southerners and never really connected to my heritage. I moved to Chicago at age 30 and my journey began to becoming connected to my roots. In 1999 I found myself living in NJ/working in NYC, was "adopted" by a friends Italian family, learned my biological father was not only Italian but a Jewish New York Italian (it explained SO MUCH about me - haha!) and then, finally, I felt like I was home. In 20+ years I have made up so much ground on all that I lost as a kid, and am now a PROUD Italian friend and Nonna!
