LONDON -- It's not as much a vacation as it is a pilgrimage.
I haven't been back to Serbia in more than 20 years. My son, Marko, just turned 18, and he's never been there at all. We'd hoped to do this in 2020, but the pandemic knocked that out. So here we are, in England, on our way to Belgrade, the brilliant capital of my ancestral homeland, to finally, finally do this right.
Bit of a backstory ...
I'm born and raised in Pittsburgh. My late father, Milan, was an ambassador for the former Yugoslavia, and he was assigned to the Downtown Pittsburgh consulate on Stanwix Street. That's when and where I was born. A few years later, my parents split up. My younger brother stayed with my mom, and he took me back to Belgrade.
One problem: He didn't have anywhere near the time to take care of me. And, because his side of the family had been ravaged by World War II, he opted to have me stay out in the villages of Parage and Futog with relatives on my mom's side. So I did. For nearly two full years, when I was 6 and 7, I grew up in those two villages -- different relatives took turns with me -- and it sure felt to a very young child as if that's how it was going to be for good.
And mind you, I had no complaints. As the pic above hopefully illustrates -- those are my cousins Zvezdana and Zorana -- I was pretty happy.
In 1972, my mom lied. She told my father she wanted to have me in Pittsburgh, where she'd remarried, just for that summer.
She never sent me back.
And from my own perspective, having now been yanked back and forth across the globe a few times, I made up my own mind that I belonged in Pittsburgh, that this was my home and that I'd love it with all my heart. Which, to be honest, was what led into falling for the local sports teams even before I'd had a good grasp on English ... which I didn't start learning until second grade, by the way, because I was never supposed to stay in the U.S.
For the next week, I'll get to see everyone again. There's no one left for us in Parage but for burial grounds. We'll still go. That's our family's root village, dating back as far as anyone can tell. I'll see my family and meet new family members. I'll show Marko what all this is about, the origins of what'll always be his tribe, as well.
IN THE MEANTIME ...
I'll be back in a week, in ample time to cover the Steelers-Seahawks preseason game Aug. 13. I'll obviously do no writing, no podcasting, no nothing until then. My first true break from work in nearly a decade is aimed at being exactly that.
Taylor Haase will oversee our page management and story placements, Dale Lolley will be the arbiter on any particularly involved editorial issues, and the entire staff will ... do just fine.
Look, I'm not going to lie: It's very uncomfortable for me to be away from this process, even for a few days, but that's got everything do with my own personality quirks and nothing to do with the people being entrusted here.
Great hands, as they say
TRAVELOGUE?
Marko and I will take lots of pictures and videos, and Marko's actually going to spend some time along London's Thames River today and tomorrow doing sketches of the Tower, the Tower Bridge and all else. We'll share stuff at some stage, but it might not be as the trip's ongoing. Want to stay in the moment as much as possible.
