Life Al Dente
Laughter and Love in an Italian-American Family
Excerpt
Chapter 1: One of the Boys
I was the firstborn, the son my father always wanted. And so he started almost immediately to mold me into his own image and likeness. For the most part, his efforts were successful. Unfortunately, there was one obstacle, which he could neither overcome nor accept. I was a girl.
My father's first words to my mother after visiting the nursery shortly after my birth were, "It looks like a monkey." Who was he kidding? If I'd had a blue blanket wrapped around me, I could have been a monkey and he would have been too delirious with joy to have noticed.
Still, son or not, I was his kid. "I guess we'll keep it," he nobly announced to my mother after the next visit.
Having thus committed himself, my father tried as hard as he could to protect me from the ugly truth of my genetic makeup for as long as he could. Maybe he even managed to convince himself that it wasn't so. Parents do tend to be blind to their children's shortcomings. And in an Italian family, few things are a greater handicap than being born female.
In the early years, I didn't ... read full excerpt from Life Al Dente: Laughter and Love in an Italian-American Family ebook
