tante grazie for all the encouragement--and for the link (i will definitely try to contact them)! felt like a kinda "cyber group hug"! i'm in norcal, sf east bay area--the lovely (lol!) town of concord, to be exact. don't ask why/how i ended up here--too long & hard to explain just yet. ciao for now!
(p.s. lived in plano/richardson around 1996-2000.)