"I am by no means an expert..." So what. Many so-called experts have as much brains as the south end of a northbound horse.

Your's is the voice of experience, Rosemary. No voice is more credible. No voice speaks with more authority. No voice should carry more weight. No voice deserves more to be heard.

On personal note, your observations about growing up in Francoist Spain remind of a get-together at our house when I was a teen. My parents' normally invited the folks we knew from church. This time, they also invited the Eastern European couple across the street and a few doors down. We occasionally cross paths said "hello", but hadn't gotten to know each other.

It was a pleasant evening of nosh and small talk. At one point, the adults got to talking how they'd come to be here on the Leelanau peninsula. My folks were born and raised here. Others were transplants from downstate. Then the foreign couple spoke. They were Romanians who'd made their way out of their war-torn country and over to the States after the Second World War. They described their experiences and journey in a casual and friendly way. But after they were done, it took everyone in our living room a minute to resume breathing. Your remarks reminded me of that evening.

By the way, that evening is why I've always appreciated hearing foreigners' voices. And why it was a treat to be stationed at Keflavik during my hitch in the Navy (1974-78). I got to hang with Icelanders. Talk with British, French, German, and Norwegian aircrews from transiting patrol planes. And get my news from the BBC.