13/05/2022
We are bringing back our with this submission of a Unit 7 paper. Please enjoy this delightful submission! My Closest Companion
by Isabel O., age 12
“Hija tu comida esta lista!” “I am coming, Abuela!” Instantaneously I jump off the bed and promptly grab a plate as Abuela serves me a stack of her renowned fluffy pancakes. While I pour syrup onto my pancakes, Abuela serves me a glass of milk, which she has already added ice to. Without fail before I can sink my teeth into my pancakes, one of my abuela’s siblings stops by and asks me whether my abuela is home and if she would desire some avocados. Then I get up and awkwardly open the door, replying that my abuela is here. Then they chat for a bit about their latest crochet project in the living room, and I am in the kitchen, enjoying my pancakes.
My abuela has six siblings, which makes for a lot of nieces and nephews. Abuela is the oldest. After her is Norma, then Martin, then Carmen, then Maria, then Miriam, and finally Antonio. Among all of the siblings, there are twenty-one nieces and nephews. Her sister Norma, who had three kids, named her son Martin. Ironically, my Tia Norma married a man named Martin, and they named their son Martin Jr., but when my Tio Martin, as in my abuela’s brother, had kids, he also named his son Martin. So then there became four Martins among our family, and gatherings were baffling for a bit. As has probably been surmised, being in charge of cooking food for family get-togethers, which is a job nobody is unfamiliar with, is not the most pleasant job. Abuela has seventeen nieces and nephews, who usually all show up, plus her siblings’ wives and husbands, but it is always worth it in the end.
My abuela, who is very creative, loves to crochet. Abuela does not limit herself to one type of craft although she mainly crochets. Inside her head she visualizes intricate crochet patterns, and through trial and error she creates masterpieces. Uniquely, Abuela uses soda can pull tabs to create earrings by meticulously crocheting thin patterns on the big loop of the pull tab. As my abuela explored YouTube, she found other people who crocheted, and felt inspired because they were doing things she had not even pictured doing. Abuela has crocheted countless things for me, but one in particular that I use often is a bag that she made look like Frida Kahlo. Once Abuela had a lot of scraps of yarn that were too short to be made into their own project but too long to throw away, so she came up with a clever, creative, and cunning solution to use up these scraps, which was to crochet them all into a beautiful, giant blanket that she gave to us. It is my dad’s favorite. Abuela’s creativity enables her to keep on creating crochet masterpieces that my family will enjoy and treasure forever.
Abuela cherishes her siblings. She loves spending time with them. Inside her house, which is full of family, it is overflowing with crochet supplies. Most meaningfully, my abuela is my best friend. When I was around four years old, I started trying to sleep over at my abuela’s house, and sometimes I would wake up crying in the middle of the night, but she would still let me come over the next weekend, and since then we have had a really strong bond. Amusingly, Abuela and I are both atrocious at directions and geography. One time we drove around in circles for a considerable amount of time before we got it right. Abuela is my closest companion.
