Italian was spoken in my family as I grew up but by the adults only. They spoke Italian to communicate “grown-up issues.” You know, all that stuff that we kids “shouldn’t know about.” 

Plus, speaking Italian was a hangover from the Old Country and while my parents were proud of their heritage, they were first-generation Americans who wanted the next generation to be all-American, free from the bigotry of the past. Right or wrong, I grew up not being able to speak or understand the language of my roots.