In Pursuit of Peacocks

The book of Poems and Songs that I hope one day to publish is called In Pursuit of Peacocks. The title is inspired by my Grammy's life-long pursuit to find a lost wedding gift from her mother.

My Grammy grew up in Aliquippa, PA with her mother and 9 older siblings. Her father died when she was only nine and her somewhat unstable mother struggled to raise her 10 children the best that she could. My Grammy got married in 1962 at the age of 16 to a fellow Italian. He was a tall drummer in their high school's marching band and a manager of the local ice cream shop where they met. My mom says that she loved to watch them dance in the living room when she was a young. In 1965 when my mom was only 2, my Grammy and Grandpa said goodbye to both of their massive Italian families in PA, and moved to Ontario, California.

Grammy's mom Elizabeth Vallese, was an excellent crocheter and crocheted a white peacock for Grammy as a wedding gift. It was inspired by a photo of Grammy in her wedding gown on her big day. The long white train was fanned out perfectly and Grammy looked to her mom, like a radiant and beautiful peacock. Elizabeth put a piece of red velvet behind the white peacock for contrast, and framed the piece in a large gold frame. Grammy says it was about 2 1/2 feet by 3 feet. Apparently when Grammy received the gift, the glass of the frame was broken and the crocheted peacock was damaged. She called UPS to report the damaged article with the intention of getting the peacock back to her mother to repair and resend. Unfortunately, UPS never returned the peacock back to Elizabeth. Grammy says that if you report something damaged to UPS, they take it as a damaged good and sell it themselves, at least that is what happened in the late 1960's to her peacock.

Grammy believes, "somebody bought it and where it's hanging I don't know. But I hope to find it one day so she (Elizabeth) can get the credit for what she did."

I truly hope that one day, my Grandmother will find her peacock so she can honor her mother like she has wanted to for 46 years. I hope that by telling her story, I might be able to help locate the lost gift through the Good Samaritans of the internet. Grammy did say that she believes that the peacock passed through the UPS store on or near Reservoir St in Pomona, CA in 1967. In Pursuit of Peacocks, is my way of honoring Elizabeth Vallese, my Grammy and my Mom for passing down self expression thorough art to me.