Christina+D

Sara
by: Christina D'Ovidio

My dad came to the United States for work. Little did we know there would be less work here than in Italy. My dad found work, but not good work, so my mom had to work too. I didn't like it, being alone with my older sister, especially in the summer. All alone, nothing to do. Nothing to do but sit around waiting for my mom to come home.

One day it was so warm I had to ask my sister Amelia if we could go outside. She said yes. What else could we do in here? We went for a walk on our street. That's when we found it, the garden. Who knew Cleveland could have something so beautiful, so green? I had to go in, so we did. People were growing everything from tomatoes to squash. There were so many plants. And in the middle there was something sort of like a walkway. There were also so many people with different ethnicity's. I saw adults, children, even a man in a wheelchair. He reminded me of my neighbor back home in Italy. We had to go home but when our mom came back we told her all about it, the green, the people. Who knew Cleveland could be so interactive. We asked if we could plant something, she said yes. I suggested grapes to remind us of Italy. Only a vine each so it would not take up to much space.

The next day we went out and bought grape seeds and planted them together. I was shy but wanted to meet new people. I saw two girls in a patch nearby. They seemed like nice people so I went over and talked to them. There names were Lily and Kim. They are both from different places and are both 9. They were nice and I became friends with them. I taught them how to grow grapes, Kim taught me how to grow lima beans, and Lily taught me how to grow raspberries. I also met a man named Sam, and my parents became friends with him. Every once in a while he would stop by to see how we were doing and sometimes vice versa. When the summer ended Kim, Lily, and I had enough beans, raspberries, and grapes to last us until next summer. (I think.) I couldn't wait until next year to do it all again.