In the Soviet Union, sunflowers were an incredibly popular flower. You could find sunflowers and their by-products at almost any local market. The Soviets pour sunflower seed oil in many dishes and eat sunflower seeds like they were candy. When my mom was young, living in Belarus, her favorite flower was the Sunflower. In the summer, her family would leave the city of Minsk and stay at a little farm village outside of town. There they had a garden where they grew fruits, vegetables, and sunflowers. She would pick the sunflowers as soon as they grew. When my mom came to America, she would never see sunflowers, even when she was passing by flower shops or markets. When she first came to America, she was 20 years old. She got a job as a babysitter working for a well-established Russian family. When she got her first paycheck, the first she spent her money on was sunflower planting seeds and a large green pot. She wanted to keep a little piece of home with her.

– Michelle Shneyder

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