We are fortunate to have a special Fourth of July salute to Teresa Heinz Kerry, another evocative Pittsburgh memory from Jessica Szabo:

The Little House Part 2: Little Touches of Pittsburgh

The little house 26 miles outside of Pittsburgh sits waiting for its copper pipes, re-claimed fixtures, and tankless water heater in what I can only imagine is a beautiful green Pennsylvania summer. I haven’t been home in a few years because of the cost of travel, and have had to rely on little touches of the Pittsburgh area to get me through: a few pounds of Nicholas coffee, some photos sent by relatives, the Post-Gazette online in the morning, and an official Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel that is such a part of the city, it appears to be upset at being removed from the Pittsburgh area. (Every time I wave it while watching a Steelers game, the other team scores) I even have a few  Pittsburgh themed T-shirts to wear with my jeans on the afternoons when all I have to do is run a few errands.

My favorite bit of Pittsburgh away from Pittsburgh happened on April 5th when I took a few days vacation from the cleaning and office job I work to pay for the improvements on the little house to travel to San Francisco for a This Moment On Earth event. I’d been excited and wanting to attend an event ever since the book tour was announced, and the interview and question and answer session were more than worth the hotel stay and long train trip it took to get there.

Immediately afterward, people began gathering near the stage to shake hands with Senator Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry. I was a few people too far back in the line that formed in front of the Senator and missed my chance to meet him, but I did manage to walk up to Teresa.

I have deeply admired Teresa Heinz Kerry ever since I first learned about her philanthropic work and watched and read interviews with her during the 2004 campaign. I went around telling my relatives and anyone else who would listen, “She’s going to be the best First Lady, and she was naturalized in Pittsburgh. We’re going to have a First Lady from our home area.”

I never expected her to be anything other than intelligent, thoughtful, gracious, and kind. Now me, that’s a different story. I could feel the stupid things to say filling my head as I stood there.

Thankfully, none of those made it to my mouth. Instead, I walked up to her, and said, “You make me proud to be from the Pittsburgh area.”

In return, I received the warmest smile and the friendliest handshake I have ever had, followed by her leaning toward me and saying “youns.” “Youns” is a unique Pittsburgh word. We use it the way people from the south use “y’all” and everyone else says “you guys” or “you all.” I laughed and nodded in understanding,  while people waiting next to me just looked confused. At that moment, all the way on the other side of the country, I felt like I was back home.

As I walked away, she called, “Where, where?” after me. The Pittsburgh metropolitan area consists of the city itself and numerous smaller townships and boroughs in Allegheny and Washington counties. With some of the smaller ones, people who have lived there all their lives have to ask exactly where some place is in relation to the city of Pittsburgh itself,  but a large number of them end in “burg.”  I turned around and said “Cokeburg,” and she said “okay!” and smiled and waved as I drifted into the crowd of people headed for the front lobby.

I didn’t realize there was a book signing after the event, so instead of waiting around for people to line up and getting to talk to Teresa again and meet Senator Kerry, I trotted right out to the street where I caught a cab back to the hotel and called people to wake them up and tell them I’d just met Teresa Heinz Kerry.

The next morning I had to catch a train back to the place where I am currently living. To avoid going into a lot of personal details, I’ll just say that it isn’t the right place for me to be, and my return that day was especially sad because the following Saturday I was to experience the Catholic sacrament of Confirmation there instead of in a church back home in the Pittsburgh area as I had hoped. I went ahead with the sacrament, but I managed to bring two little touches of Pittsburgh with me. The outfit I chose for Confirmation included a small clutch bag containing two items: a rosary that had belonged to the grandmother who owned and lived in the little house, and my ticket stub from the San Francisco event that felt like a trip back home.