In his late 20s, my grandfather, Jimmy, immigrated from Monemvasia, Greece, to New York with little to no money or understanding of English. He was compelled to become an American citizen through a process called naturalization. Naturalization is when a citizen of one region becomes a citizen of another. After immigrating to the US, he soon picked up the language along with a job working for a family member’s painting company that eventually led him to establish his own. He remained in the US where he had his children, my mother, and lived here before passing away at the unfortunate age of 57 due to lung cancer. Although I was never able to meet him since he passed away at a rather young age, I’ve grown up surrounded by his stories. My favorite is from when my mom was roughly eight years old and my aunt eleven. He gave them a ladder and told them to climb up on the roof. Once they did, he took the ladder down and walked away. My mother and aunt eventually figured out how to climb down on their own. The purpose of this experiment was to show his children how to be independent and figure out their own solutions to their own problems without expected resources, something that he had to also figure out on his own when immigrating, and wanted to pass on that knowledge to his children. Although I greatly wish I could have met him myself, I know he would be proud that I’m passing down the story of his wonderful life. 

– MG

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant