Finding my way home

I was born in 1961 in San Francisco, CA  to a family of  2nd and 3rd generation Americans of Chinese descent. I was given every privilege and opportunity that my solid middle class parents could afford me and after finishing (finally) a Bachelor of Science degree from UC Davis in Environmental Design their generous graduation gift was a studies abroad trip to Cortona, Italy in 1986. It is a trip from which I have never returned.

It is a trip that has continued for decades now and although it led me far away from home, it also brought me back home to myself. Growing up when I did in the United States, even in San Francisco, it was confusing at times  to reconcile who I  really was and what my place in American society was. I needed to travel far from home, to take stock and really find the kernel of who I am, liberate myself from the self-doubt and many times self-loathing. 

I'm now at a  place where I decided the time is ripe to start to collecting the grains of this experience, i chicchi di riso, "the grains of rice or laughter" as can be translated from italian. I had always been intrigued by the fact that this word in italian had a double meaning which was so appropriate to my life- rice and laughter, nourishment for the body and soul.

I've collected a few short stories of my experiences here in Italy that I have been wanting to gather together. Some on old floppy disks of the 80's, in lost long ago notebooks, in the corners of my mind, in fancy leather bound notebooks waiting for me to have the courage to indelibly set my hand to them. After waiting and waiting, I am jumping in and starting today to journal the grains of life, which have brought me nourishment for both my body and soul.