During the time when there was a large outmigration from Portugal to the United States, Ermalinda was just 6 years old. She always remembered herself preparing to leave for her new life, she would sit in a chair for hours and just stare at the mountain peaks which descended steeply into the sea that would carry her to her new home in the United States. The trip to the United States on the "banana boat" was …showed first 75 words of 1053 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1053 total…apart. Although I never had the pleasure of knowing my great grandmother Ermalinda Rodrigues, I believe that we somehow have something in common, just as she was separated from her extended family as a child, I was too. I now have a large family of my own with five children and it seems that I must be following in her footsteps. I only hope that this time the family will not drift apart. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**