But, by the time the first ESTO festival was held in Toronto, in 1972, I was no longer involved with Estonian life, except for visits to my parents in Lakewood. I was creating a future for myself as an American: working on a Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin and searching for a life partner. I do remember in 1976 listening to my father talk about his emotional, powerful experience of attending the ESTO in Baltimore.
The next ESTO in my memory is 1988 in Melbourne, Australia. By then I was married to an American, Jack Seitz, who was interested in Estonian culture and supportive of having me speak Estonian to our children. I became a founding member of Eestlaste Koondis Karoliinades (Estonian Association of the Carolinas). I considered going to ESTO 1988 with my family, including our children ages eight and five. But Australia seemed too far away – too expensive and too hard to do.
