My maternal grandmother, Kata Ribaric Dzajic (“Katie Dzaich” as she was known in the U.S.), immigrated from Croatian, then known as Austria-Hungary, to America in 1918 at the age of 18.  She returned to visit her home village of Kajgana one time in 1976.  After her lengthy visit with her brother and other relatives, she said she was happy she went, loved her family and village, but realized that America is her home.

Grandma sent me a postcard from her trip, which I have to this day.  The card, copied here, at first appeared at first to be written in Croatian.  However, upon second read, I saw that it was written phonetically in English.  The translation is below.

Translation:  Dear Margaret, We have very nice airplane ride. Every thing is nice here. I wish you were here. Love, Grandma [Now read the card again and see if you can make it out :)]

I didn’t make it for 37 years, but next week, on October 1st, Mike and I are leaving for a 2 1/2 week trip to Croatia, and plan, among many other things, to visit the home towns of my grandmother Kata Ribaric in Kajgana, Croatia, and grandfather Jozo Dzajic, in Klobuk, Herzegovenia.  I’ll keep our the story and pictures of our trip here so you can join us.