I have only 600 words with which to express my thoughts and feelings about Lady Sofia, as I like to call the capital city, and Bulgaria in general. Six thousand wouldn't be enough, but here we go. Lets give it a shot.

In July 1994 I found myself on an international flight bound for Sofia with a change of plane in Frankfurt. Why? I had proposed to a lovely Bulgarian lady whom I had met only a short time before. Now, as I sat in Frankfurt Airport, I wondered what was going to happen. As an American whose second language was Spanish, not Bulgarian or Russian, I was more than a bit nervous about the language question. Mariana Jordanova and I had met with an interpreter intermediary. Mariana spoke virtually no English and I didn't know any Bulgarian.

I needn't have worried. Our interpreter, Mariana's school mate and close friend, was right there with her at the airport in Sofia. Two weeks later Mariana and I were married with her friend as interpreter and maid of honour. Since then Mariana and I have been back to Bulgaria four times. Until May this year I had not been in four years. Perhaps it is because of the long absence that I can see the changes more clearly. Differences and improvements have occurred. Lady Sofia and Bulgaria as a whole are on the move. Sofia, which could and should be the Paris of the eastern Balkans, is a lively city which is moving to meet its destiny. Though admittedly there is an air of pessimism and skepticism amongst the expatriate Bulgarians living in our hometown of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, there is an air of progress and optimism amongst the younger Bulgarians, the very people that will move the country into the twenty-first century.

Some of the small but revealing indicators of progress are the fact that streets and roads are now being paved, long neglected public park areas are being mowed and maintained and old homes and public buildings are being restored. Last but not least, the parking lot outside my mother-in-law's apartment, a quagmire of rocks and potholes for the last seven years, was recently leveled and black-topped. It may sound trivial, but I think that's a sign of real progress.

I had already been to Rila Monastery, and several other gorgeous places in Bulgaria so this time we visited Plovdiv and Varna and Nessebar. Finally, I went fishing in Bulgaria for the first time and caught fish. My dream, to fish the streams of the Bulgarian mountains. Wow! The green rolling hills, forests, the streams, the farms, the Black Sea and all the other marvels of this green, beautiful agrarian country are indelibly etched on my brain. Yes, Bulgaria is on the rise.

Last but not least, I have found Bulgarians to be the warmest, friendliest people I have ever met, ever ready to share a beer or their last piece of bread with a stranger. When one is invited to a party, he or she may be certain that the table will fairly creak under the load of food.

At the top of this column I said that I needed six thousand words to express my feelings about Bulgaria. Better make that six million. However, I can reduce that to just four: Bulgaria, I love you.

God bless Bulgaria and its people.