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The song says, "I left my heart in San Francisco".  For me, I would change the lyrics to "I left my heart in Southampton". 

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My formative years were spent on Long Island, New York.  Mineola, to be exact.  Which you've probably never heard of unless you're from Long Island.  Think small town filled with Portuguese people.  Kind of like the town in Mystic Pizza.  Except Mystic is in Connecticut.  And Julia Roberts is not Portuguese. 

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Portuguese families ARE very tight (just like Julia Roberts' fictional family in Mystic Pizza), and my grandparents lived minutes away from us in Mineola.  I saw them practically every day until the age of 8. 

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My grandfather aka Papa was a Portuguese immigrant who came to this country with nothing but his integrity and an ironclast work ethic.  He founded a construction company and slowly secured his small portion of the American Dream. 

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He secured a plot of land in Southampton, New York overlooking Little Peconic Bay and built two houses with his own two hands.  Literally.  He loved to tell the story of how it cost him $14,000 to build the house that was our family's beloved beach house. 

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All of my birth - 8 year-old summers were spent out at The Beach House.  (Technically, I was also there when I was incubating in my mother's womb.)  Many attributes of The Michelle of Today can be traced back to those magical summers. 

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For instance, the guitar pictured top left next to Baby Michelle is the very same guitar that I picked up at age 8.  I taught myself how to play it with the John Denver Songbook.  In fact, I NEVER STOPPED playing it that summer and nearly set my mother over the edge. 

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Pictured top center is Kindergarten Michelle fostering her newfound love of boats.  I begged my father and Papa to take my on boat rides daily.  At first there was the dingie.  Then there was the cute little sailboat that my father christened "Michie Lou".  Later there was Papa's motorboat.  And lastly, Uncle Johnny's Hobie Cat.  Which he nearly capsized with my sister and I on board as a storm approached.  My mother required Valium by the time we returned to the house. 

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Pictured top right is Toddler Michelle showing her talent for athleticism and sport.  Not!  I assure you that mini

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