My Journey to America

This is my story, a collection of memories of my life. My name is Nicoletta D'Avanzo Sorice. My father, Giuseppe D'Avanzo, left our family behind in Italy and came to America in January 1937, right after my birth. I dreamed daily about joining him, not knowing if this could ever become a reality. I was three years old when World War II broke out in Italy in 1939. From the age of four to the time when I left for America in 1950, my mother, my brother and I lived with my father's father,...
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This is my story, a collection of memories of my life. My name is Nicoletta D'Avanzo Sorice. My father, Giuseppe D'Avanzo, left our family behind in Italy and came to America in January 1937, right after my birth. I dreamed daily about joining him, not knowing if this could ever become a reality. I was three years old when World War II broke out in Italy in 1939. From the age of four to the time when I left for America in 1950, my mother, my brother and I lived with my father's father, Nonno, Antonio D'Avanzo. He was the mailman of Roccarainola, a small town located northeast of Napoli, in the Campania Region. My recollections of my childhood village and its many residents are forever embedded in my memory. A few years after WWII ended, my father initiated the legal paperwork for us to join him in the USA. However, it took the American Consulate a few more years before they approved our permanent Visa. In 1949, my mother and brother left for America, and I had to remain behind due to my being underweight. Eight months later, my U.S. Visa was finally approved. I sailed alone on the passenger ship S.S. Saturnia from Napoli to New York. I took my first airplane ride from the Fiorello La Guardia Airport in Queens, New York, to Atlanta, Georgia. I finally boarded another flight to Shreveport, Louisiana, to rejoin my family and meet my father for the first time.The excitement of all the new and unexpected things I experienced at the time, did not allow me to think, feel, or imagine what my life could be like in the United States. Surprisingly, within a few months in the USA, I adjusted to the southern way of life, made new friends, learned English, and enrolled in a private high school. I continued to appreciate my Neapolitan roots and traditions, as I simultaneously embraced my new world in the United States. The prolonged absence of my father ultimately became problematic for us. My parents found it hard to restore our family unit. My mother, brother and I soon relocated to New York so as to be near my mother's sister, Maria Stella, who welcomed us into her family. After meeting my husband on a return trip to Italy in 1958, we were married and spent over twenty years living in Ozone Park, Queens. Here is where Paolo and I raised our three children, Sabato, Teresa, and Maria, and these were some of the best years of my life.The people who were influential in my upbringing are gone now. I hope to be faithful in describing their significance to me. The stories about the villagers and my family served me well, especially when told to my children at bedtime. They loved hearing about Nonno, my aunts, uncles, and relatives. These episodes were better than any of Grimm's Fairy Tales.In 1982, Paolo and I moved our family to Florida. I faced more hardships, in addition to achievements, which taught me to stay strong and believe in myself. After I retired at age 71, I continued my formal education. I was 79 years old when I received an Associate in Arts with Honors degree from Broward College in 2015. At age 81, I graduated Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Arts in Linguistics - Italian from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.Education gave me a space to learn. It enabled me to tell my story. Many events in my past had been submerged deep into my subconscious, and now they are recalled. I wanted to leave my children and grandchildren a legacy of understanding their family history and knowing how I lived my life. Writing this book has been a labor of love, and it has taken nearly five years for me to put these memories down. My 2023 resolution was to finish this project, and I am happy to see it published before the end of my life.