Departure on the eclipse

Next month, May of 2024, marks 105 years since my great grandmother, Maria, and my grandmother, Antonetta, arrived to Ellis Island on The SS America from Naples Italy.

Last night, a few hours after the eclipse, Bill & I waited on the starboard side of our vessel to depart New York harbor and sail past the Statue of Liberty as we begin the journey towards our new lives in Italy. The moment and its significance is not lost on me and tears well in my eyes as we glide past the New Jersey waterfront towards the statue.

It had been windy and rainy just prior to our ship’s departure and those who gathered on the upper decks shivered and mused at the cold, but I can only imagine the disparity between these temporary moments of discomfort we share here on deck only to return to relative luxury soon after and what the conditions may have been for my family, and the hopes they pursued making their way to America.