Pallets have always meant more than a pile of wood for me. For as long as I can remember my grandpa has had a pallet business. I remember visiting my grandpa at his pallet business all the time. I enjoyed looking at the huge towers of stacked up pallets and would sometimes climb to the top of the lower ones. I would also climb onto the beds of the trucks used to transport the  pallets. The pallet business had sawdust everywhere, the sound of saws cutting through wood, and nails scattered around the floor. Due to all the nails on the floor, nails were constantly stepped on. I remember nails logged in my shoes and pulling them out. I never got hurt from stepping on the nails and never wore flip flops to prevent it. I remember the sound of the nail gun and how good my grandpa was at using it. I was allowed to drive the forklift at the pallet business and it felt like the coolest thing in the world to me back then. My grandpa had a few goats in the pallet business and they would chase me around when they got loose. Running away from those goats was probably the scariest thing to me back then. Being hit in the back by their horns at full speed is what scared me. I got onto a higher place where they could not reach me and waited for my grandpa to lock them back up.  

– Nicolas Cortez

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant