Paolina Milana - author and writer for hire

Everybody has a story. I've been telling people's stories for decades. I'm an award-winning writer and published author with journalistic roots and a marketing background. Let me help you write or ghostwrite the story of your life. Also available for corporate brand storytelling.

Death of My Father: Recamaterna

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Sixteen years ago today, my father died. It was a Sunday, just after Father’s Day. I wasn’t supposed to be home that day, but I had gotten sick the night before. That morning, I still lay in bed. Papà came to check in on me, promising me a dinner of my favorite pastina, guaranteed to brighten my spirits.

dad and gardenThat’s who my father was at his core: a realistic, but always optimistic. He could find the proper perspective, the wonder in the everyday, and the humor in the absurd. He was one of those people who brightened a room when he entered it.

On the day he left us, my world darkened. [Read more…]

In Celebration of My Own Patron Saint Papà

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Today is my father’s birthday. March 19. He was born on St. Joseph’s Day, a big celebration for Italians, especially Sicilians. As a kid, year after year, our entire family would dress up, pile into our white Pontiac Catalina, and drive to some church or somebody’s home for a “feast of fishes” – a gorgeous display of food, similar to a cruise ship’s midnight buffet, but set up on an altar paying homage to the patron saint of fathers, families, and workers.
mom dad aunt rose wedding2It’s fitting that my Papà and St. Joseph would share their day. Fathers, families, and workers: that pretty much sums up what my dad Antonino Milana represented, at least during my lifetime and from my perspective. (That’s me as a baby in his arms; my siblings were flower girl and ring bearer at my aunt’s wedding.)

My mother once told me “Che pense? Papà non ha mai cambiato i pannolini finché mi sono ammalato.”

[Read more…]