PRELUDE TO

BEAUTY

SALON

MY BACKGROUND

My father left me at the tender age of three because of his profession.  He was a renowned violin maker and was in much demand, which carried him all the way to Caracas, Venezuela.**  I can still feel the chill of that dreary day, and I can see my father waving goodbye while a black, squeaky train from Northern Italy was taking him away.  Not even the loving, reassuring arms of my mother could appease the pain and sadness I felt in that moment.  Does anyone ever recover completely from such a bleak moment of abandonment?

My mother also left me when she accepted employment as a chef in Switzerland.  For thus it happened that I was raised by my grandmother until I reached the age of six.  I was then shuffled off to the nearest convent where I was to lodge and receive my education.  I found it a tormenting experience.  Indeed I felt I had been sabotaged by those who should have been there to protect me.

At age 18 and able to speak not a word of English, I was put on a boat to New York to reunite with my father and his new bride.  My step-mother was a strong-willed woman and had the advantage of speaking English fluently, which my dad could not.  My step-mother denied my humble request for a college education which would have included a major in music.  My desire was to continue the singing lessons which I had started back in Italy.  My request was denied, and I truly felt like a bird with no wings.  And no song.

My step-mother did have plans for me, however.  It was her will to have me get married as soon as possible and to have children.  Being so young and inarticulate in the language, I was at her total mercy and, of course, so was my father for the same reason.  So I obeyed her wishes and got married to the son of her girlfriend, who was introduced to me at the Hungarian Ball where the marriage was essentially arranged.  I had two daughters from this disastrous marriage.

I wrote my mother explaining the abusive situation which my children and I were in because of my husband's violence.  I asked my mother to help me to return to Italy, which she did.  With her generosity, I had the opportunity to buy a beauty shop for a very reasonable price on a prime location.

I was extremely successful when the nuns who took care of my girls called me, informing me that a gentleman whom they believed to be the girls' father -- because they called him Papa -- took my girls for ice cream.  He never came back.  I had known nothing of this, and the experience was quite traumatic.  I was shaking and couldn't speak for hours and hours.

With the help of my mother again, I sold my business and used the money to come back to the United States in search of my children.  My father helped me finance the payment of fees to detectives and lawyers to discover where the girls had been hidden.  They were finally found in California a year later.

Then my youngest daughter began to develop an illness which would keep her in and out of hospitals for years to come.  As she started to plummet into sickness, only my powerful maternal instinct pulled me again and again to the surface of sanity because, for certain, emotionally and financially I was a wreck.  I would do anything I possibly could to help her in the constant hope for her recovery.  When I lived in Sarasota, I would drive for eight hours (four hours each way) to visit her at MacClenny Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

I am wishing for a miracle to be given for an opportunity to open the Prelude to Beauty Salon by receiving the assistance of interested investors.  Thus we will all be blessed in our pursuit of a fresh goal.  I thank you in advance for your interest.  Please e-mail me at:  [email protected]

**FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MY FAMOUS FATHER, GO TO GOOGLE AND TYPE IN THE SEARCH BOX:  SERGIO PERESSON.