Why I Write

By Lauraine Alberetti Lombara

I come from a creative family. Both of my parents were excellent cooks. My father, Antonio, a chef by trade, was king of soups, roasts and Italian specialties of the cuisines of Emilia Romagna and the Piedmont provinces of northern Italy. My mother, Laura, was an accomplished pasta maker and rustic baker. Also, she was a gifted seamstress with a discerning eye for fine fabrics and interesting details. My eldest brother Joseph has an engineer’s mind and was an electrician, designer and draftsman by trade. My older brother Robert is a professional fine artist and a semi-retired professor of art.

I always loved to write. My family and a few teachers in school complimented me for it, especially Professor Clara Siggins at Boston College School of Nursing, who thought I should have studied literature and writing instead of nursing. I did not switch electives.

My writing mainly consisted of letters and brief notes as I pursued my nursing career, married, and raised three children. I put so much energy into my roles of wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend that I never opted to take time to do anything “creative” except for a sewing class and two sessions of Italian Language classes sponsored by Beverly Adult Education.

Through the ensuing years, I did what needed to be done: housework, shopping, and cooking, which was my only creative outlet. I enjoyed seasonal outdoor activities; swimming at the beach, snowshoeing, walking, canoeing and kayaking. Listening to music of all kinds and dancing were other pastimes I favored.

Reading has always been my great escape and my passion. I can lose myself in fiction, non-fiction, poetry or prose. I have just begun writing again—a few poems, a few memoirs, mainly anecdotal stories about family.

To test the waters, I joined “There’s A Story There!”-- the Beverly Public Library’s new creative writing workshop--in January, 2013. I found that I have another creative outlet to add to my love for cooking. Also, now I know that I write as passage to inner fulfillment. I am so proud to be a member of the Winter Street Writers.