When I was 17, I was found skipping school. I was grounded immediately. During this time, I was forced to spend a lot of time with my grandmother who was senile and never really talked about much besides God and drinking songs. So I was pretty floored when my grandma looked into my eyes and said, “I skipped High School all the time.” 
My image of my grandmother’s youth was painted by the pictures of her in her Catholic school uniform, which does not suggest a woman renowned for her “playing hooky”, She told me about how her and her friends at St. Joseph's in Downtown Brooklyn would go to theaters and bars to see shows. She told me about how she and her friends had the biggest crush on this young, unknown Italian singer named Frank Sinatra. We spent the rest of the day listening to old Frank Sinatra albums. 
At the end of her life, my grandmother’s memory was completely gone, but when you played Frank Sinatra, she could sing along with every single word. She seemed to be remembering being 17 and skipping school, the daughter of Irish Immigrants falling madly in love with this charming son of Italian immigrants. 
I don't have a lot of possessions in my small Brooklyn apartment, but I do have my Grandmothers Frank Sinatra Albums. My great- Grandparents immigrated from Ireland so my grandmother could pursue the American dream, and I don't think there is anything that represents the American dream more poetically, than skipping high school to fall in love with Frank Sinatra. 

– Maggie

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