Giuliana's 39th Birthday

Today is my sister Giuliana's 39th Birthday.

I come from a family of magisterial women of which she is the latest.

My Great- Great Grandmother, Matilde has been dead since 1933 but her personality and things about her are still part of our lives. She was a titled woman and her strength is still with us.


My Great Grandmother Lucia, who I knew was the kind of person that everyone respected and who did for everyone and was held in esteem. She ran a business and took care of everyone but never in a soft way.

My Grandmother Matilde is a strong 95 year old who survived and thrived through World War, Depression and immigration. She gave us a template of what a strong woman is supposed to be. My Nonna Matilde and her sisters Gina and Dolores are the strongest people I have ever known.

My mother Lucetta comes from this same line. She is strong and forceful and in a take no prisoners style is able to manage everything in way that most are not.

In the end all of these women have always been the iron center of our lives and my sister, who turns 39 today carries this mantle.

Giuliana my sister is the mother of two great kids, Chiara and Luca. She is not only a great mom, wife and professional. She is also the kind of woman who is able to juggle and manage everything while remaining what is important the iron center of her family.

Softness has never been revered in my family. I wrote once that the women of my family are beautiful the way a sheer cliff in the Alps in beautiful and my sister comes from that genre of women.

So- on her 39th Birthday the last Birthday of her youth Giuliana- we celebrate.