My Amazing American Journey

The central character of this book is the author herself who came to the United States at the age of 18, primarily to find new cultural horizons, but also to better understand her dad's nostalgia for the United States he had known as a young Italian guest worker in the booming 1920's. Struck by love at first sight for a recent immigrant from Bosnia, her life, along with her dreams and beliefs, changes radically. What was intended to be a short trip and a sort of pilgrimage into her dad's past turned into a series of transitions, progressions and regressions, accompanied by ever evolving quests for a better life for her family. She learns to blend her old European and new American values. Along the way, her family faces the challenges that any new immigrants or immigrant children have to overcome when they do do not enjoy the support of a well rooted family or community. The road is paved with many bumps. It leads, however, to powerful emotional fulfilment in her American family network. It also leads to powerful professional fulfilment provided by the ties she built nationwide in her educational community.