A LITTLE INTRODUCTION AS TO WHY AND HOW I CAME UP WITH THIS BLOG

I grew up in New York, though many people I meet often say, "where in Greece were you born?".  I guess it is that obvious how much I love, Greece, the language, the culture...in essence its beauty.  What fortified my love for the language was less about Greece's beauty and more about my grandparents, and cousins.  It's quite a long and intricate story to tell, but it was during my childhood and adolescent years that my love for the language and culture blossomed....When I turned 8 years old my father passed away.  Up to this point my parents had chosen to share the responsibility of raising my sister and I bilingual.  Mom would speak only English, while Dad spoke only Greek.  After his passing, however, my mother was concerned with how she would have us continue remaining comfortable communicating in Greek.  As a result she signed us up for Greek school and had us visit Greece every summer.  The former we hated, the latter, we loved.  The benefits however, were two-fold.  We not only kept ourselves fluid in our communications, but we grew up very close to our aunt's, uncles, Yiayiathes, and Pappou.  Over those years, yes we increased our vocabulary, learned expressions and the right way to greet someone (firm handshake paidi mou, kai apo tis thio meries filane), but it was secondary to the fun we had in learning where are roots came from and who and what we represent as members of our family, specifically and of Greeks in general  .  So here I am hoping to pass on what we can.