I grew up in a small town near Naples, in Italy. My family and I came to this country, January 3 1968. Most of my teenage years I spent in Italy, with a big family three sisters, two brothers, and my parents. My father was the only one working. We could not afford too many things. We didn't have a television, and a radio, it was always hand-me-downs among ourselves. My mother was always able to rearrange the hand-me-down clothes from my oldest sister to my youngest. We used to look forward to Christmas so we would get a new outfit and new shoes. I would come home from school, do my homework do some chores, and then help my oldest sister, she is a seamstress so I would learn a trade. We were allowed to watch TV maybe about 2 hours at night before we went to bed. Sundays wore the best. We would go to church, have a family dinner all together, then in the afternoon I would go with my friends for a walk in the town. Sometimes we would get an ice cream, go see a movie, or just get together at one of our houses and listen to music and dance. We did not feel that we had to compete with one or another who wore better off, back then I used to thing they wore the worst days of my life. When we came in this country I did not get to do much I went to school for six months I was not old enough to go to work, against my parents better judgement I chose to go to work. I got married when I was twenty, my husband and I had three wonderful children. They went through their teenage years with a lot more than I ever had. We were lucky they did not give us major problems. Now today we have four grandchildren. Our oldest is 12 years old. He has everything he could ever want. Teenagers today they have cell-phones, TV's computers of their own, new clothes and shoes any time they want. But I feel very sorry for teenagers because they are under so much pressure. They have to compete with so much - drugs, friends, alcohol, broken families, I think t eenage years are so important. I wish they could have some of the values and experience that I had gotten. I look back now and I believe that some of those were my best years.

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