Yes we can, Lily (trust me, no Obama connection involved in that answer!😆)! I've been married to an Italian-American man that I met in the Navy for 42 years this past November 28th. We have two grown sons and three grandchildren, two girls and a boy.

But while, according to him, it was love at first sight for him -- his family wasn't so initially enamored. His grandfather on his mother's side and both grandparents on his father's side were all born in Northern Italy and immigrated here. His maternal grandmother was born here, the daughter of immigrants from Northern Italy as well. The paternal grandparents died shortly after his father was born, but I did get to meet his maternal grandparents who treated me very well from our very first meeting and every time we visited after. Oddly though, it was his American-born father who had the most problems with him marrying that, "moulignon" (an Italian-American slang for "nigger"). And he made it known, to everyone and always in my earshot. The husband had said we were going to stay at his childhood home that first time he took me home "to meet the family." Dad was not havin' it. His older sister lived in the same community, not far away with her three kids and she said, "Dad, if you're gonna be like that, then they'll stay with me, no problem!"

We did, and it was actually a beautiful, get-to-know-each-other experience, one that continues to this day! Before the Dad died, he came around. I remember him apologizing for how stupid he had been and telling me how much he loved the way I'd loved his son and how he'd grown to love me. I told him he had no choice, because I wasn't going anywhere! We laughed and once he met his grandsons five years later (he and my mother-in-law came down to MD and babysat for the weekend, while me and the husband went to the Navy Day Ball!!), he was in love. From that day, until the day he died, I was always able to count on him and he, me -- as well as the rest of the family.

I guess the moral of my story is, you never know what you're gonna get until you get it and, if that's what you both really want -- hold on, no matter what.