“I was living in Romania when the Soviet Union fell. For our...

“I was living in Romania when the Soviet Union fell.  For our entire lives we’d been communists and suddenly we were capitalists.  Some were good at it.  Others weren’t.  My husband and I tried to invest in a computer business, but we lost everything.  We were evicted from our house.  He was able to live at the university because he’s a professor, but I was forced to move back in with my mother.  That’s when I made the decision to leave the country.  My husband wouldn’t come.  He’s not impulsive like me.  I took a bus to Italy and within three weeks I was out of money.  But I was very fortunate.  I found work as a home health aide for an elderly woman.  Her children treated me like part of the family.  We ate all our meals together.  They didn’t ask me to cook or clean.  And I made more in a week than I could in a month back in Romania.  Every day I rode the bus to their house, and that’s where I met my new husband.  His face was always in a book, so it was a year before we actually spoke.  He’s gentle.  He’s calm.  He’s kind.  The hard times are gone now.  I’ve forgotten about them.  And don’t worry about my ex-husband.  I bought him a house.”
(Rome, Italy)