As I was growing up, I was told over and over again the story of how much my great-grandfather loved my great-grandmother. My relatives would say: “He loved her so much that he did all the housework. He loved her so much that once she came here, he took all the laundry to the Chinese Laundromat so she would not have to work so hard anymore. He loved her so much that when she arrived to the docks in New York after all those years of separation…” read the novel The Strega and the Dreamer for more. That event in the book really happened.
Hearing these stories made an impression on me. I not only heard them but was immersed in a field of energy where this story was held. It was the field of the story of a man’s deep love and devotion to his wife. What a woman she must have been!
Another story that was repeated to me was that my great-grandmother, this woman my great-grandfather loved so much, was a Strega. Eight years ago, I decided to figure out what that meant. So I researched and wrote the novel, The Strega and the Dreamer and recovered a lineage that was temporarily lost.
After my sister read the book, she called and asked when I was going to write the sequel. I replied, “I am living the sequel.”
We are all living sequels to the stories our ancestors lived. Another sequel I am living out is the sequel to the story of my great-grandfather who was born in a small village in Italy and had the ‘dream of America’.
The way we choose to live our lives is how we write the sequels and create the prequels for those who come after us.
Consciously understanding the sequels we are living out is a worthwhile inquiry. By being aware of them, we can then make the choice to more actively participate in them or redirect them. We are the link between the past and the future. Our chosen trajectory affects both.
~Theresa C. Dintino
