I am an American...well, I am

Years ago I was at a dinner party on Long Island, New York, near where we lived at the time.

The hostess, Anne, was a New Yorker born and bred, but her husband, like mine (may he rest in peace), was from Italy.  Though from different areas.  I was seated between a between the hostess's sister and the sister's husband.

At one point during dinner, my husband and the  host were telling some long involved funny story in Italian.  Most of the people at the table understood and for those who didn't, the hostess translated.

Now, I'm not the most socially adept individual nor am I one who tends to look forward to such parties and what followed is one of the reasons.

The sister turned to me and said, my husband is Italian, too.  I looked at him and said, you speak English beautifully, I never would have guessed.  He retorted (with more than a little attitude), "I was born here but both of my grandparents are from Italy.  What are you?"

?

I did not understand the turbulence in the energy around me, but answered, "I'm American."

To which I received his response, "You don't look like a native Indian."

? - yes, again.

So my smart-(a$$)mouthed-self assumed a bewildered countenance and answered, "So God created Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and 'Indians' in North America?  I don't think so.  I carry an American passport, am eligible to vote in US elections, was born in the US and can prove lineage to an ancestor who fought in the American Revolution, and have a line that continues back to the Mayflower.  So if I'm not American, then I have no nationality."

Unfortunately that ended the conversation for the most part between us, luckily the meal was over and I could easily excuse myself politely wishing them a good evening.

I apologized later to the hostess and confessed the conversation.  She laughed and said she didn't get along with them very well because of those types of conversations and added, "now there's another reason Giulio and I like to hang out with you and Gianni!"

We did get together with Anne and Giulio quite a bit back then, and Bacchus would have been proud every time!

I don't think about it a great deal, and I will admit there are times I would rather I had been indigenous to another country, mostly Scotland, or Ireland or Canada, but not for any realy practical reason.

Nationality needn't be so important that it disturbs people.  We can't help where we are born any more than to whom we are born. 

Some people change nationalities, and that's cool.  Some change parents, not usually by their choice.  So, as with all things there is nothing written in stone about what happens after one is born, but the initial place and parents are not within our known ability to do anything about.

I am who I am...judge me if you must.

BB,
~LM