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Andrew is the second generation in America, after his parents moved from Bucharest to New York in 1973. He is an expert in financial transactions at Key Way Investments Ltd., an online brokerage firm. He recounts how he introduced his daughter, Riana, to the business world, after speculating her dreamy nature, her appetite for poetry, for classical music, for impressionist art.

Look, Riana, because you graduated from your studies at Hamilton College as valedictorian, I offer you a book which I purchased some time ago at an auction, the book is called “Poems” by Mihai Eminescu, a Romanian poet who was greatly appraised in his country, about whom I told you a thing or two. The book, in its original edition, appeared in 1884 at the Socec Publishing House in Bucharest, the capital of Romania. It’s not a very old book, if we think about it, but also not a very new one. With the money you get from this book, you should be able to travel to Europe as you planned, to see Greece, to see Italy, to see Spain. Even Romania, too. Go to an antique shop and try to sell it at the best possible price. You know how much she was offered? Five dollars. The reason? Unknown author.

She came home very disappointed.

Riana, I told her, I understand your disappointment. But make an attempt at a pawn shop, too, tell them that it’s a valuable book, which has a long history, that the decoration on the cover is with gold, there must be someone on this earth who will appreciate this fact. At the pawn shop Gold and Silver Pawn, they offered her fifty dollars. Riana returned home in tears; she thought I wanted to ridicule her. Don’t despair, Riana, I told her. Try to sell it at an auction house in the country where the poet Mihai Eminescu comes from, the country of your grandparents.

She got in touch with an auction house in Bucharest, after the official discussions she was offered fifteen thousand dollars. She was happy.

You see, Riana, I told her, I wanted you to know that any person, any object, needs to be in the right place so that it can have its true value. If you are not valued, at some point, it means that you’re not in the right place. Don’t ever remain in a place where no one sees your worth, in which no one knows to appreciate you. Do you see unhappy people around you? They’re unhappy because they’re not in the right place for them.

And the book?, I asked. Eh, the book, the gift, I bought it again, from my daughter Riana at the price set by the auction house in Bucharest. Riana is now on her dream trip in Europe, yesterday she sent me an enthusiastic message:

Dad, Romania is real!

Adrian Alui Gheorghe