Maggie Price English 100 Assignment #1 Hiraeth Assignment The Final Day I can hear both of my parents yelling and I know something is wrong. “You did it again!” she says. Caroline and I are sitting in our room watching our favorite Sunday morning cartoons and playing our favorite board game Chutes and Ladders. “Mary, I’m sorry she meant nothing to me,” he says… Although I’m young I know something is wrong and I can feel somethings going to happen. We all hop in the car and head over to Nana and Pop pops house for Sunday dinner. We walk up to the small white porch with a brown whicker love seat sitting in between a beautiful garden of Nana’s favorite lilies and lilacs that Pop-Pop picked out for her. I open the tiny white door, I can hear the news playing on the tiny black square TV and pop-pop resting on this favorite brown leather chair. Nana has set out our favorite candy on the little glass table. Although mom and dad never liked us eating the candy before dinner I have a big sweet tooth and always manage to sneak a few. Nana is cooking in the kitchen making my favorite spaghetti and meatballs I can already imagine the meatballs melting in my mouth. Alex, Zack, Nick, GG, Pop-pop price, Aunt Stephanie, Uncle Michael and Aunt Adrienne all arrive and all fifteen of us try to pile on the small white couch until dinner is ready to eat. Pop-pop starts playing the piano and tries to get me to help him play he always says I have great long fingers I would be the perfect pianist. I’m too shy and my cheeks get as red as tomatoes when he says that so I say no. Instead we all just sit there and listen to him play. He plays music in the manner of a skilled and sensitive musician. The tune of his playing fills our faces with smiles as we listen to him play. I try to help Nana, GG and Mom in the kitchen. I love being in the kitchen with them I feel happy and warm when I am in there with them and I would try to sneak Nana’s recipe occasionally. I always wondered how she made her spaghetti, meatballs and sauce so perfect, it’s like it’s a top-secret recipe she won’t even show GG, her own daughter! I say, “Can I please help you three with any of the cooking?” Mom says, “Thank you sweetie but we got this under control. How about you go set up the dining room table with your sister and cousins.” I’m young and they don’t want me to ruin the meal. Hopefully one day they will let me help them cook the dinner. I yell into the living room for Caroline to help me set the table. “Boys knock it off!” Aunt Stephanie yells. Alex and Zack goof around, so I don’t even bother asking them to help. Caroline and I place the off-white table mats on the table first, the cloth napkins right next to them, and the bright white china plates right on top. Caroline and I place our plates right next to each other and Mom and Dad next to us. Pop-pop and Nana at the head of each table like always and everyone else on the other side. Dinner is almost ready but not quite yet so all us kids go play outside for a little bit. Birds are singing in the sky; the sun is beating down and can hear all the other kids screaming and playing outside. It’s a perfect spring night to play our favorite outside games. All the boys start playing with the soccer ball and Caroline joins in. She always likes playing sports and being a tomboy. Me not so much. I just sit and draw hearts with chalk and play hop scotch. Dad comes running out and says, “Kids come in and clean up, dinner is about ready.” I can’t wait. I am so hungry my stomach can’t stop growling. All fifteen of use pile into the dining room and sit down at the long brown rustic dining room table. The table is filled with so much food it looks like my Nana cooked for an entire army. We all make up plates and wait for everyone to be ready so we can say grace. "Bless us, O Lord, and these, thy gifts, which we are about to receive from Thy bounty. Through Christ, our Lord. Amen." And we all dig in. I stuff my face. The meatballs are so tender and soft they are like a cloud and just melt in my mouth, the spaghetti is so fresh and although were not allowed in the kitchen when Nana is making pasta I can still imagine her making it in the kitchen all day today. To top off the meal there is some freshly baked Italian bread that Pop-pop picked up in South Philadelphia that day. It still tastes so fresh as if it just came out of the oven. It’s so quiet in the room as we all eat. It’s like you can hear a pin drop. “Dinner is delicious” Pop-pop yells out. “You always know how to make my stomach jump with joy dear” Nana gives him a big smile and blows him a kiss across the table. Their love for each other is beautiful. I always hope one day I can find love like theirs. We all scarf down our plates and end up going for seconds. Dinner is done and it’s time to clean up. Mom volunteers Caroline and I to do the dishes and we argue over who’s going to do it. “I don’t want to do it mom!” Caroline says. “But that’s not fair I did It the last time!” I yell back. “We’ll make this fair this time” Dad says “Caroline, you wash, Maggie you dry” “I guess if we do it together we’ll get it done much faster”. I say to Caroline. “Agreed” she says. After were done cleaning up we relax in the living room. We’re all just sitting around laughing and enjoying each other’s company, and we’re finally ready for some desert. Nana and GG prepare the table again and bring out all the delicious cakes and pastries. A beautiful chocolate cake for the kids and coffee and pastries for the adults. We all indulge in some desert and coffee. After desert, I feel so full it feels like I can’t eat for four days. I fall on the white couch in the living room and digest all the food I just ate. Around eight o’clock, I begin to say my goodbyes to everyone. Nana and Pop Pop give me a kiss goodbye and say, “see you next Sunday” I give them a kiss back and scream “CAN’T WAIT!” Sunday dinners with the whole family at their house is my favorite day of the week, I look forward to it every week. Another long ride home I don’t look forward to all I can think about is lying in bed with my favorite stuffed animal peanut. I’ve had him since I was born. We finally get home and Caroline and I get ready for bed. We change into our pajamas, brush our teeth, and pile into bed. Mom and Dad come say goodnight and tuck us in. We say goodnight and I shut my eyes. “Get out!” my mom says “Mary please talk to me” my dad says Their screaming voices wake me from a deep sleep. I peak my head out the door as quiet as a mouse. Caroline is still sleeping I don’t want her to wake up. “There’s nothing to talk about. You already did the damage when you met her.” “It was nothing like that” “Please let me make it up to you” “we can work this out” “There’s nothing to work out anymore. I’ll have your stuff packed tomorrow. Go stay you’re your mother tonight.” “But what about the kids?” “I’ll figure it out. Were done.” I run back to bed, as dad walks down the hallway and walks out the door without turning back.
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As I started writing my assignment I talked to my sister about it because she is older than me and she remembers more about the past than I do. She helped a lot and helped me remember more. The most difficult part about my writing process was how to get started on the approach I was trying to take. I was very young when my parents got divorced so I had to try and bring back those memories in my head to make my story come alive. I started writing my project the week it was assigned and then continued to write little by little every day. I’m not sure if that was the best approach for me personally because when I went back to write more I lost the momentum when I first started writing it and I had to get that back. I wrote some of my project in the library and the rest at home in my room. I like to be comfortable and in a warm place when I am writing or doing assignments. When I’m not comfortable I get, distracted and stop what I’m doing. I think writing in my room in a comfortable place is what I like to do. I don’t have any distractions and I can just sit down and write. I chose to write about Sunday dinner at my grandparents’ house with my whole family because that’s where I felt at home when I was a child. It was a tradition that everyone came over and we enjoyed each other’s company and I looked forward to it every week. What I would like to do better for future revision of my hiraeth assignment is talk to my parents more about those days and get further input. Also, getting other people’s input on my writing other than my immediate family which can help a lot.
Maggie Price
English 100 Assignment #1 Sundays with the family Waking up on a sunny Sunday morning, I can smell mom cooking morning breakfast. I look outside my window right over my bed to the bright blue sky and the tall green trees. I see the sun beating down and can hear the birds chirping so loud it’s like they are singing a song to the world. Dad is packing the car for a trip to Nana and pop-pops house for Sunday dinner. Oh, how I can’t wait to eat my grandmom’s homemade spaghetti and meatballs. I can already smell the gravy cooking. I can hear the floors creaking, and I know Caroline is running into my room to get me up. We race downstairs to the kitchen where mom has breakfast waiting on the table. The pancakes are so fluffy like the clouds in the sky. There’s fresh coffee brewing in the pot, I can smell the freshly grounded beans, and the orange juice is so fresh it was like they were picked off the best orange tree in Florida and freshly squeezed. Dad comes in from packing the car and we all sit down and eat. Breakfast is over, and mom yells “I cooked. You clean.” As usual Caroline and I play rock, paper, scissors best out of three to see who must clean up and do the dishes. She always won, ugh. I clean up quick as lightening so I can join the family in the living room for movies. I get to pick what we watch because I cleaned the kitchen, Caroline isn’t too happy about that. I go back and forth between my favorite Disney movies, The lion king or Beauty and the beast. I can’t decide so I have dad hold both of them up and I spin around and point my finger seeing which one it will land on. I stop, I’m so dizzy I feel like I just walked off the gravitron at the fun fair and I can feel my breakfast coming up. Mom finally says that she’s going to pick and we all lay down on our big brown couch and watch the movie. The day goes by as fast as lightening and Its time to go to Nana and pop-pops. We all run upstairs to throw on a new pair of clothes and hop in the car and head out to the house. An hour goes by and we finally arrive, I’m so excited I’m out of that car I’m feeling so car sick. We all walk up on the small white porch and open the tiny white door to pop-pop sitting on his brown chair watching the news on the small black TV and Nana cooking in the kitchen. The rest of the family arrives and all of us pile into the tiny living room and squeeze onto the two white couches. Pop-pop starts playing the piano and tries to get us to join but none of us are ever interested so he goes on to play some tunes himself. We all sit there and listen to him play, he’s so good it is as if the piano were being played by a skilled and sensitive musician. I go and try to help Nana and mom in the kitchen, I love being in the kitchen with them I feel happy and warm when I am. Mom tells me to set up the dining room table as they have the cooking under control, I get it I’m young they don’t want me to mess anything up. I place the off-white table mats on the table first, the cloth napkins right next to them, and the bright white china plates right on top of course I put my plate right in-between mom and dad and Caroline right next to me. I call everyone in to come sit down as dinner is about to be ready and all 15 of us pile into the dining room and dad starts bringing everything out and It all looks delicious. It’s so silent in the room as we all stuff our faces with the spaghetti and meatballs, the meatballs melt in your mouth, the spaghetti is so fresh and I can picture Nana making it in the kitchen today and to top off the meal there is some freshly baked Italian bread. We all scarf down our plates and go for seconds. Dinner is done and it’s time to clean up and get ready for desert. Us kids must do the dishes as grand mom and mom prepare the desert. They bring out a beautiful chocolate cake for the kids and coffee and Danish for the adults, we sit down and enjoy the ending to the night. I’m so full at this point I feel like I can’t eat for another four days. Around eight PM we all start saying our goodbyes and we head out, another long hour drive back home, I can’t wait to snuggle into my bed with my favorite stuffed animal peanut. We get home and I think how I can’t wait for next Sunday at Nana and pop-pops. Waking up at 10 AM on Sunday morning, eating breakfast and getting ready for the day. Dad is packing up the car to go to nana and pop-pops house for Sunday dinner. 3 pm we head out to their house oh how I can’t wait to eat her homemade spaghetti and meatballs it’s my favorite! We walk into the house to pop-pop already playing the piano and nana cooking in the kitchen. Everyone arrives and we all pile into the living room and all us cousins try to squeeze onto the small white couch, we sit and talk and watch whatever to show is on the little black TV as we wait for dinner to be ready, I can smell the gravy cooking in the kitchen and I can’t wait to eat. Pop-pop tries to teach me how to play the piano but I’m not very good at it so Caroline gives it a try, she’s always better at it than me. Dinner is ready and all 15 of us sit down at the dark brown wooden dining room table with the white place mats and white china plates and get ready to eat. Pop-pop is always sitting at the head of the table and all the kids sit together we all pile our plates with food one by one, youngest to oldest goes and gets the food. It’s so silent in the room as we devour our plates, nanas homemade gravy is the best! We all finish and it’s time to clean up and get ready for desert which is my favorite part. Nana brings out the chocolate cake for the kids and coffee and pastries for the adults I’m so stuffed at this point my stomach feels like I can’t eat for a week. Were all finish eating and us kids must decide on who wants to do the dishes. I always agree to do it because I enjoy it. Around 8 o’clock we all start saying our goodbyes and head home. I can’t wait for next Sunday for another family dinner!
Hiraeth a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was, a deep nostalgia for people and things that no longer or perhaps never existed. A place where you call home but can never return or a home where you want but never had. It could be an object or a physical person. It is something that relates to you in a much deeper way than other people might see. My hiraeth is about a person. My parents got divorced when I was only 3 years old. I remember growing up wondering why I was only living with my mom and only seeing my dad every other weekend. I would see all my friends living with both parents and it confused me until I got a little older. I always imagine how different my life would be if this had never happened and vision waking up on a Sunday morning and walking downstairs to my mom and dad sitting at the kitchen table and Caroline, Katie and I joining them for breakfast and being the happy family that I saw in other families. I have a box of old pictures that I keep underneath my bed that I look through occasionally. One picture always pops out to me it was from Christmas morning the year they separated. I don’t remember it much because I was very young but I always look at it and I imagine all of us running downstairs Christmas morning being so happy and opening Christmas presents one at a time (that’s a rule in our house) and being that happy family we once were. Looking through those pictures bring up many emotions for me. They make me sad sometimes but happy at the same time, they bring me back to that home and happiness that I hope one day I can have.
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