Letters to my grand-daughter

I got the idea for this memoir from my father-in-law. He recently sent us a brief document about his past life but, unlike him, I am not going to wait until I am 80 years old to start writing it. I just became a grand-father a few months ago which gives me the extra motivation to do it now. Maybe in a future hot summer day, my grand-daughter will be reading this instead of her assigned summer reading book.

I am told that I was born in Barcelona on July 13th, 1955. My mother, Adelina, tells me that my delivery was much easier than my sister’s one. It could be, in part, because this time it took place in a hospital surrounded by doctors and nurses rather than in my grand-mother’s flat with a midwife as was the case for my sister.

At age 20, I met my wife in Mallorca and followed her to California. I didn’t return home for over four years when I brought my son Joey to meet his grand-parents. Four years later my daughter, Danielle, was born in California and 26 years later my grand-daughter, to whom I dedicate this book, was born in Texas.

In my professional life I've worked for the University of California, for the Office of Telecommunications at the State of California, for Southern Pacific Communications (aka GTE Sprint), for Bank of America, for Safeway Stores, for American Airlines which ultimately spin off its IT branch into SABRE Holdings Inc, from which I retired before becoming a consultant.

My family and I have been fortunate to live in many different cities including Barcelona (Spain), Sacramento (California), Dallas (Texas), Paris (France), and Moscow (Russia).

This is the story of my life which, as John Lennon said, is what happened to me while I was making plans.