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When
my mother was seventeen years old and an uncommonly pretty girl, she
went to visit her step-mother’s family in Ujfeherto and met my
handsome father, Miklos, whose family also lived there.
They fell in love and a whirlwind courtship ensued complete with
gypsy musicians surrounding my father as he stood under my mother’s
window serenading her with heartbreakingly sentimental music;
“Csak
egy kislany van a vilagon...” (There is one girl only in this world.)
I was always jealous of this.
It took
them five years to get married because my father had to find a job in
Budapest and my mother had an older sister, Sari, and according to
custom, the older sister had to tie the knot first.
During this long courtship, Miklos wrote to his beloved Cecilia
every single day, talking to each other on the telephone whenever
possible. Eventually my
father got a job in Budapest at Goldberger’s (with a little help from
my grandfather’s drinking companions) and the young lovers were able
to see each other frequently. |
