BACKSTREET GALLERY

Daphne John

 

I’ve always found it difficult to define myself, as at the advanced age of 70+ so many experiences have gone into making me - - - remembering WWII years from a child’s perspective, living in a bare apartment in Chicago…and the Christmas my mother took pity on a couple of young GIs trying to get home for the Holiday and invited them for dinner when the cupboard was bare - - -later, discovering that I could sing – really sing! – and feeling the pleasure and high that enthusiastic applause brings to the ego - - - discovering the joy of a well-written mystery and becoming a life-long addict of suspense yarns - - - being influenced from an early age by my parents – both artists and musicians and always surrounded by beautiful things - - - after college being recruited by the U.S. Foreign Service, my first apartment in Washington DC, going overseas to the island of Cyprus, meeting my future husband (tall, handsome Marine in a crisp dress-blue uniform) - - - the next twenty years raising 3 kids in the San Diego Area; coping with absences in Vietnam, plugged-up septic systems, shorted-out household wiring; creating clothing out of old uniforms; broken arms, split-open heads, rebelling against all the stress and declaring that everyone in the family had to do their own laundry - - - another twenty years carving a new career in real estate and then finding it was no longer fun or exciting to go to work – what a relief retirement was…I could then concentrate on making art and singing and acting.

 

Having now lived in Florence for nearly 20 years I think the final stage in my life has arrived.  Being able to still participate as an artist, actor and 

musician in this community gives me great pleasure.

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Life is great!