The approaching Christmas celebration brings memories back to my life in 1959 as a student at the Villa des Fougeres. This was my first Christmas away from my family. It was the beginning of seeing a bigger world while reflecting back on my family’s activities that would be occuring in my home on Christmas day in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. I spent Christmas day in the beautiful picturesque village of Zermatt, Switzerland, skiing where the only transportation available were sleighs. It snowed all day. It was magical. I felt as if I were living in a scene from a Christmas card!
You can now listen to Letters That Moved My Father, as recorded by Grammy-nominated performer Carolyn Striho. For the entire audiobook, visit Romayne’s home page.
Carolyn’s recent album Afterthought was on the Grammy Awards First Ballot for Best Rock Album in 2018. Carolyn’s won 12 Detroit Music Awards, including two for Outstanding Pop/Rock Songwriter and two for Outstanding Album. and a Billboard Award. Carolyn’s alluring delivery with a powerful rock and roll gypsy sound has hypnotized crowds for years onstage and within her recordings and bands. Carolyn has a recent book, Detroit (Maiden Energy) street princess poems & lyrics, which is a volume one of Carolyn’s writing reaching deep into stories of growing up in Detroit and a music lifetime. The book was on the Amazon best new sellers in October 2019. Detroit (Maiden Energy) also received great reviews from NPR Detroit’s Ann Delisi, Billboard Magazine’s Gary Graff, former Detroit Metro Times editor Brian Jabas Smith, Hour Detroit’s Jim McFarlin and more. Carolyn’s poetry is also featured in Respect: The Poetry of Detroit Music which includes Nikki Giovanni, Aretha Franklin, Jack White and so many great musicians and poets. Carolyn has performed on tour with Patti Smith and with Don Was, Was (Not Was) with Carolyn’s band Detroit Energy Asylum, and in England with Yoko Ono, Steve Earle, Tori Amos, Sinead O’Connor, Grace Jones and so many iconic artists. She’s also played with The Slits, The Ramones, Iggy Pop and the list goes on!
Having just finished reading Bill Clinton’s book wherein he says that everyone has a story, I realize I too have a story. The story I am going to tell you is the year that changed my life. It is the year I can recount to you because my father saved all the letters I wrote home from my year studying abroad in Switzerland and Norway. My father was a hard working successful businessman and not the type to show much emotion over the normal events of my life but these letters touched him. After I returned home his friends would relate to me the events that I had experienced in Europe as told to them by my father. When he died my letters were found in his safety deposit box.
LettersHome 