Finish Everything On Your Plate!!!

 In college, the girls were curious. Why are you finishing every speck of food on your plate?  You can always get more, if you want!!!What Marash Girl didn't know was that it was rude in their world to finish everything on the plate; it would mean that you were still hungry, that your host should offer you more food.  And what a vicious cycle that would be, since at first, you would have to refuse three times before you could accept food, and in the offering world, it was rude to offer three times to a guest.  Wow!!! Two different cultures, not clashing, but whimpering to a halt!!!

As tax season rolls around . . .

As tax season rolls around, Marash Boy cannot refrain from quoting his uncle, Karekin Charkoudian, who was an  Armenian from Marash, Turkey, an immigrant from the Ottoman Empire,  an Armenian American who never stopped appreciating the United States . .  the United States and what it meant --ultimately -- for him and his family:  freedom from fear, oppression, and possible death.  Whenever April 15 was nearing, Uncle Karekin would tell all who would listen, "Pay your taxes with a smile!"

As we in the United States gear up for the grueling task of gathering our documents in preparation for April 15 -- even if only to give those documents to a tax accountant -- Marash Girl's revision? "Prepare your taxes with a smile!"

Comment:  Easier said than done!

Remembering Guido

When Guido came to this country, he thought that the streets would be paved with gold.  After he arrived, he learned three things.

1)  The streets were not paved with gold.

2)  The streets were not paved.

3)  He was going to have to pave them.

He loved this country and he loved helping to build it.

Posted by visiting blogger Ann-Louise on Guido, her father.