d all of my relatives in the family are regular practitioners, with to exceptions. My Aunt Judy, of Irish descent, who is married to Uncle Andreas, is Protestant, and William, who is my cousin Georgia's husband, is a practicing Jew.
The fact that the entire paternal line of my family, numbering 29, plus my mother, lives in Southern California may seem to suggest that the Panoses have constructed for themselves something of a family enclave. Indeed, the motion picture My Big Fat Greek Wedding contains a number of features that are almost exactly replicated in the Panos family. For one thing, a Panos family member never has to worry much about being lonely for too long. Indeed, the family tends to live in clusters; three of my uncles live on the same street. And as it happens, my Uncle Tom even has Greek statues and columns outlining his house--just as in the film. As the marriages of Aunt Judy and Uncle Andreas and of my cousin Georgia and William show, the Panos family has not had much experience with mixed marriages. Almost exclusively marriage and dating for the Panoses take place within the Greek community.
Indeed, my father's marriage, like his father's and like those of his brothers Tom and Bill, were all arranged marriages. My uncle Andreas, who married Judy, an American Protestant, arranged his own marriage, of course. On the other hand, Uncle Bill and Aunt Effie, whose marriage had been arranged, gave their consent to have their daughter Georgia marry William. In other words, the Panos family was not bound forever to all of the traditions of the Greeks. Nevertheless, as can be seen from the repetition of given names down the generations, the family is very conscious of the benefits of making a commitment to family continuity.
One change in the Panos family structure has can be identified in the tendency of the third generation to marry much later than those of the previous generations. Also, although my father has five ...