After a long and exhausting boat journey across the Atlantic Ocean from the offshore island of the Azores in the southwestern European nation of Portugal, my parents and I arrived in New Bedford, Massachusetts, New England. The year was 1925. Some of our family members had arrived before us; some even arrived several years before us. Along the way I remember listening to my father tell me stories about New England. My favorite story was about the explorers and how they came to find New England. He told me that there was a nautical map dating back to 1424 that depicted New England and that a Portuguese sailor, Dualmo, arrived in New England in 1487, five years before Christopher Columbus who supposedly was the first man to discover New England. My parents and I were the last immediate family to travel to New England. My grandfather was a stubborn man and did not want to leave his old country, so he refused to follow many of his family and friends. I imagine my father was the same way for quite some time until he finally saw more opportunities waiting for him on the other side of the Atlantic. I think it had something to do with a letter he received from my uncle Rui. I found the letter a day before leaving. In the letter Uncle Rui told my father about the factories that hired and paid much more than Dad earned back then and that there were farming communities further down the promontory that also had great job opportunities. But Uncle Rui kept talking about the factories and how much happier he and his family were. Despite his reasoning for choosing to make the change, he still acted stubborn and with a bit of my grandfather's personality, planted his feet (so to speak) and refused to make changes and adapt to a new country, lifestyle and culture. He told me that the surnames of some of our friends and family had changed, for example "Rodrigues" became "Rogers"; Oliveira to "Oliver"; From “Silva” to “Argento”; and "Pereira" in "Perry". During the entire journey across the ocean he swore that his name was "Souza" and that he would remain "Souza" until the day he died. I often wondered why my father told me such stories and wondered if these stories were supposed to scare me..