Some decades ago, a man fled for his life swimming across the Danube River. Life behind the Iron Curtain was rife with pain and fear. Red seemed to paint swatches across moments in his life. Communism, love, heartbreak. Apples formed his early memory and way of life. Strawberries tore him away from his home in Bulgaria. Roses in his New York greenhouse helped heal wounds caused by life’s cruelties. As with her father, red also seemed to weave through Lisa’s life. Cranberries over Thanksgiving reignited the longing to find her family, placing this desire in God’s hands. Poppies bloomed amidst the revival of a newfound family. Cherries demonstrated the unfailing strength of Lisa’s father and how “what was once lost, was now found.” The last time Lisa saw her father, she was 11. Yet the yearning to see her family restored never waned. It took years until finally, a letter arrived in a language she couldn’t understand. Decades later, a leaf appeared on a genealogy website. Lisa discovered she had only scratched the surface of her family an ocean and a continent away.
Table of Content
DEDICATION V
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS VII
INTRODUCTION 1
PART I 3
LIFE AS A BULGARIAN 3
Chapter 1. The Land Between Two Rivers 5
Chapter 2. Surviving the Escape 9
Chapter 3. Unsafe in the Village 13
Chapter 4. Seasons Come and Seasons Go 21
PART II 25
LIFE AS AN AMERICAN 25
Chapter 5. The Immigrant 27
Chapter 6. City Living 31
Chapter 7. The Greenhouse Business 37
Chapter 8. In Search of My Dad 45
Chapter 9. An Unexpected Connection 51
Chapter 10. It’s a Small World 55
PART III 59
JOURNEY TO BULGARIA 59
Chapter 11. Family Trees 61
Chapter 12. The Love of a Brother 67
Chapter 13. Journey to the Old World 73
Chapter 14. Safe in the Family’s Village 81
Chapter 15. Family Vacation 87
Chapter 16. Home Away from Home 103
Chapter 17. Culture Through Flowers 111
Chapter 18. Leaving the Village Behind 113
Epilogue 119
Conclusion 121
PART IV 125
APPENDICES 125
ABOUT THE COVER PHOTO AND TITLE 137
INDEX 139
ABOUT THE AUTHORS 141
About the author
Natasha Fernando is the founder of The BARN Chronicles, a company that specializes in capturing your memoir, it’s about recognizing that your story deserves to be told. Words are indelible. So are you. Visit www.thebarnicles.org or email [email protected] for more details – and find out what BARN stands for!
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