| Greeks. Greece. What did I know about these things | | | | idea she was Greek. I didn't really know what Greek |
| before marrying a Greek girl? Well, not too much, but | | | | people were "supposed" to look like. Her name wasn't |
| probably more than the average American. You see, I | | | | "typically" Greek, with an "-opoulos" or "-akis" at the |
| have always enjoyed history, as far back as | | | | end to tip me off. Not until much later, when I actually |
| elementary school. I used to look at black-and-white | | | | asked her how to pronounce her last name, did it |
| photos of the Acropolis in my Middle School textbook | | | | come up that she was Greek. |
| with as much wonder as a 12-year-old boy can | | | | I was pretty shy when it came to asking girls out, but I |
| muster for 4000 year old granite. I took Philosophy in | | | | did manage to muster the courage to do just that. And |
| High School, where I was introduced to the likes of | | | | was quickly turned down. More than once. But I kept |
| Socrates and Aristotle, with admittedly very little | | | | trying and, finally, she agreed to go on a "date" with me |
| enthusiasm on my part. | | | | and a bunch of mutual friends to a baseball game. |
| I went on to get a Bachelor's Degree in History, with a | | | | Thus began the relationship that would, 4 years later, |
| minor in Geography. My studies gave me more than a | | | | lead to our wedding day. |
| little information about Greece, but not much in the way | | | | As we continued to date I got to know more about |
| of practical knowledge of the country or its people. I | | | | this exotic Greek beauty and her family. But I never |
| knew a few Greek people as a kid. My mother had an | | | | got to meet any of these people when I dropped her |
| old friend who was Greek, but Sylvia's kids were | | | | off at night. I later found out that she was afraid that |
| named Buck and Mandy – not your typical Greek | | | | her overbearing Greek family would scare me away, |
| names, and we never did anything "Greek" with them. | | | | so she kept me away from them. (She wasn't too far |
| The girl I knew in high school lived just down the street, | | | | off – about 6 months into dating her I was told by |
| but I never saw any "signs" that she was Greek. I just | | | | her uncle, through one of his sons, that I needed to |
| thought she had a funny name (Effie). I knew two | | | | either marry her or stop seeing her) It was probably |
| Greeks in college, though only in passing. But 2 of | | | | several months before I ever set foot in her house, |
| these 3 people from high school and college ended up | | | | and when I did it was literally for only a few seconds. |
| at the first Greek wedding I ever attended with my | | | | She would bustle us out before her aunt and uncle, |
| wife, before we were married, showing me very | | | | with whom she lived, could "scare" me with their |
| quickly how closely connected the Greek community | | | | old-world Greek attitudes about a "xeno" dating their |
| is. | | | | niece. That's right, me. The "foreigner". In the country of |
| So I met my bride-to-be at work in 1995. When I first | | | | my birth, with a family tree showing relatives on this |
| saw her, at the end of 1994, I thought she was | | | | continent back to the 17th century, I was being called a |
| Hispanic. Captivatingly beautiful, with dark skin and long | | | | "xeno", an outsider, because I was not Greek. |
| dark hair - I was smitten from the get-go. But I had no | | | | |