Something To Hold On To

In life we hold on to our faith, family, friends, our sense of humor, our memories, and our promises. As a child, it might be a make-believe world. Sometimes it's something physical like a prayer card or a twist tie, a school bag or a rosary bead. Maybe it's a photo. Everything we hold dear brings us hope and comfort during both good and bad times. I write what I and others have held on to; I recount my experiences as a late Baby Boomer raised in rural Pennsylvania, and most importantly, by a Hungarian father, an immigrant, who escaped the Soviet Invasion in 1956.

Each chapter includes stories of things we hold on to, whether it is an actual object like rosary beads or a prayer card, or intangible things such as love, our realizations, or a sense of humor. It's what we hold on to through both good and bad times. In all 43 essays, I recount stories about my parents and friends, siblings and grandmothers, marriage and motherhood, animals and teaching, and death and regret. As a late Baby Boomer, it's my perspective of the values learned in growing up in a rural town, of being raised by a father who escaped the Soviet Invasion, and how those experiences affected me. I believe that Baby Boomers and early Generation X readers will connect to these stories. Anyone who grew up in rural America will appreciate the simpleness of life as described in these stories. Readers who have experienced immigration or know of someone who has will relate to my stories about my father's escape from Hungary during the 1956 Uprising. My hope is that you will both laugh and cry at these poignant moments we experience in life.

Ann Hajdu Hultberg, born in Buffalo, New York, grew up in rural Bradford, Pennsylvania. A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania and St. Bonaventure University, Ann spent 34 years teaching English at Limestone, NY, and Allegany, NY, School Districts; she was also an adjunct college composition instructor and student teacher supervisor at University of Pittsburgh at Bradford for 15 years. She and her husband split their time between Bradford and Naples, Florida, and visiting with their daughter and son-in-law.