Personal note from Ned

Mom wrote this poem while dad was still alive. Years later, she confided in me that the man in the dream/poem was not her teacher, but a boy from the village of whom she was quite fond. I think mom made this substitution because she would never want dad to feel jealous.

Dad needn’t worry, mom was completely devoted to her spouse. As mom wrote in her book, she knew from a young age that she would come to the USA, so she would not let herself get serious with any beau from her village of Lumbarda.

Still, mom did like this young man very much. She told me his name: Ante Batistić, though she has never mentioned his name anywhere else, even when she wrote the following paragraphs about him in her book:

Excerpt from Mom’s book:

After my illness, I have developed into a lovely teenager. I was well liked by many young boys. I had a superb personality and I was smart. I liked boys as friends, but there was one special young man I liked a lot. He was tall, smart and good looking. I can still feel burning in my cheek when he gave me first kiss.

When my mother found out I was seeing this man, she was very unhappy. She didn’t want me to get serious with anyone. She wanted me to go to my Dad when time would come in the U.S.A. I had that in back of my mind, but I still liked this fellow a lot. I was just happy to see him at church or on Sunday evening at the dance or we would go for a walk, most of the time with a group.

It wasn’t that my mother didn’t like this man, but she just had other plans for me. (That’s how it was back then.) She would send my younger brother after me to see if I was going with this man. She continuously would say I am not to get serious because I have to go to the U.S.A. I felt very hurt, so I went to talk to our priest about the whole thing. He was such a wonderful and understanding man, he gave me best advice in the world. All the things he told me, the best I can remember was, “Listen to your heart.” And I did. As I already said that back in my own mind, my feelings were to go to my Dad.