Journal 3 - A Secret Childhood Place

When I was around eight years old, I went to Sonora, Mexico with my mother and sisters to visit my grandmother. My grandmother had a beautiful Spanish style house with a large patio that encircled its perimeter. The house was painted yellow with clay shingles on the roof. There were bird cages with yellow and white canaries, parakeets, and cockatiels. Along the patio, bird cages hung in every open window. She had big overstuffed chairs on the patio to sit while taking in the warmth of the sun. In the morning, we would awaken to the chirping of the many beautiful birds. My grandmother also had a wonderful garden in back of the house, which included fruit trees of peaches, mangoes, and avocados. She had a lot of plants and roses of many colors, red, pink, yellow and white. I loved to spend time in her garden, smelling the flowers and playing under the shade of the trees.

My grandmother would send us to the store near her home to buy fresh tortillas, which the wife of the store owner would prepare as you watched through an open window. The store sat on the corner, I remember it being small, yet overfilled with can foods, lot’s of candies, fresh vegetables, and other household items. My grandmother was a wonderful cook, and there was always something simmering on her stove. She would prepare enchiladas, chile verde, fresh beans, and Spanish rice for us to eat. She also liked to make fresh milk shakes of papaya and mangoes. Some days it was too hot for the milk shakes, but she would always insist that you have one. Everything she prepared was delicious.

My grandmother became ill and had to move back to Arizona, where she had previously lived, to seek medical attention for an illness. Although I only got to visit her house in Mexico twice before she passed away, I will always remember the childhood memories at my grandmother’s beautiful house in Sonora, Mexico.