Last month I dragged Amber to the Greek Festival in Temecula, CA. I had to make promises of great Greek food and loads of Greek dancing to entice Amber to come with me, it was not a hard sell, as soon as I said Greek food she was sold.
One of the reasons we went to Temecula was to see my cousin Kathleen, I hadn't seen her or her family for several years. I had a chance to talk with Kathleen’s daughter Arlee, about going to school and what she wanted to do with her life. She’s a bright sensitive girl who has her whole life ahead of her. She told me about how she wanted to sing in perform, it’s not a surprise that she has the singing gift, it is on my mom’s side, and Kathleen is my cousin on my mom’s side. Which made me think about my 10 years of singing opera professionally. My mom is beautiful singer too, but my mom never had the chance to sing professionally.
It got me to thinking about our 3 generations and how different life has been for all 3 of us.
Arlee has options for her future, that my mom and I never had. I had to fight for the singing career I had because of social pressures at the time, and the traditional Greek family expectations. My life should have been a job, marriage and a few Greek babies but I had other ideas! My voice was a great gift and I wanted to sing. My mom on the other had, had to make huge sacrifices and missed out on what would have made her very happy. Don't get me wrong, mom was glad she married my dad and had two Greek babies but she missed out on using her gift to support her family. My Grandfather was dying of tuberculosis so my mom took on responsibilities, that, as such a young person, she should never have had to do. It was different for immigrant families in the 1930’s – 1950’s; they only had dreams of a grand life, because the reality was that they had to support the family from a very young age.
Arlee and I are very lucky, we are able to decide who we want to be everyday. We are lucky to be part of a modern society in which we can reinvent ourselves everyday, if we wish. As for my mom, I hope she doesn’t have regrets because I love her and I am proud of the great mom I have, and the sacrifices she made for her family. Without her sacrifices my brother and I wouldn’t have had the chances we had of following our dreams. I have a four-year degree from California State University Long Beach in Vocal Performance, I was a New York Metropolitan Opera Regional Finalist and still a member of the union American Guild of Musicians (that’s like SAG, in the opera world), what can I say, I got to follow my dream…
Elizabeth Koukladas
www.bearlainternationalstudies.com
No comments:
Post a Comment