My Grandma would sit my sister and me down and take out her sewing bag. It contained two pairs of embroidery hoops and a ball of mixed colored, tangled up yarn. She would set up a cloth between the two wooden hoops, then attach whatever color we’d like to the needle. My sister and I would always pick a bright color because that’s all that she had, just like in the traditional Mexican dresses they were so colorful and vibrant, the Mexican dancers looked so beautiful dancing in the dresses. The cloths would be very colorful and they would be used to keep the tortillas warm while they were being warmed up. When my sister and I went to Mexico and came back to the U.S we brought the bag with us, this bag reminds me of Mexico and my grandmother but mostly the ball of colorful tangled yarn. I appreciate what my grandma taught my sister and I because she didn’t think that she had to buy us the most expensive and nicest toys, she thought that teaching us to do something was much more valuable. The bonding that we had when we would all sew sit and together was better than letting us play on the ground. My grandma probably bought my sister and I one or two dolls, she mostly taught us things and cooked for us instead, she thought it was much better to bond with us. This sewing bag reminds my family of my grandma because we all remember her teaching us how to sew and we still have some of the tortilla cloths that she sewed.

– Erika

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