Sami Vedisco
English 100 Assignment #1 Due: 2-9-17 Thursday's at Granmoms I wake up and the snow is falling from the sky. It’s a thursday morning and school is cancelled so my mom and I make my way to my granmoms house, and yes that is how she spelled it so I’m not spelling it wrong. I walk up the sidewalk and there is a little patch shoveled out on the grass just for Molly. I’m walking up to the door and Molly is waiting for me barking jumping up scratching the glass door. The small but chubby white fluffy dog is jumping up on me when I walk through the door. My granmom is sitting there waiting for me on her side of the couch. The other side was for my grandfather that I called uncle Lou because he was my granmoms second husband. I can remember walking in when I was little and him sitting on the other end of that couch closest to the door and saying “get out of here” jokingly, but sadly he passed away when I was very young so it was just my grandmother in her house since I could really remember. She is watching her morning shows with yarn and a needle in her hand making all sorts of things such as blankets. Which she would start so many but never finish. My mom says goodbye and goes off to work. We then go and walk to the dining room where there are crafts and a sewing machine all over the table, different crafts every day. I sit on the tall stool at the kitchen island that is between the dining room and kitchen. I always sit on the side by the deck door which is on the side of the dining room and she sits across from me on the kitchen side. We always have the same thing for breakfast when I’m here, honey nut o’s, she has her Diet Pepsi and I have hot tea. After we're done she gives Molly the milk from her cereal and I said to her like always “This is why she is fat.” At 12:30 we sit down on the living room couch because it's time for her favorite show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.” She always made sure we were always home by 12:30 if we had to go to giant or the craft store. She knew about every question on the show and said “I could be on this show” every time we watched it. Me and her try to guess the answers and I only get them occasionally. After it’s over we walk down the stairs into the basement. The basement is huge with so many crafts to do. There are multiple sewing machines, tons of markers, crayons, fancy tape, a cricket which cuts out anything you want, and all different patterns and colors of paper. My granmom suggests that I make a scrapbook. We go get markers, glitter, stickers, tape, and tons of pictures of me when I was little. She helped me put the pictures on and the glitter. I still have the scrap book in my room till this day but it is not yet finished. By the time we want to stop it's almost three in the afternoon and the whole family is coming over for thursday night dinners in less than three hours and we still have to prepare dinner and dessert. While I’m upstairs on her Ipad for a little watching netflix of course I can smell the aroma of food going through the whole house. I go downstairs to the kitchen and see her cooking my favorite meal, chicken divan. It's chicken, broccoli, cream of chicken, mayo, and lots and lots of cheese. I help mix the cream of chicken and the mayo then sprinkle cheese all over and put it in the oven. I can remember always hearing the soap opera General Hospital in the background because it's usually on in the afternoon. She says “ do you want to make a dessert”. We decide to make peanut butter cookies which are my favorite out of her recipe book, or it might have been her mother's recipe before her. We make them from scratch by mixing the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together with a KitchenAid mixer. I always eat most of the batter out of the bowl of course even though you're not supposed to. I then set the table neatly with her glass plates with flowers on them, napkins, and then silverware on top. Now it’s 5:30 and people start showing up. First it’s usually my aunt and uncle, then my cousins and other family. By six everyone is here, but my mom is always the last one but usually is there by six. We all helped finish cooking and preparing the food and then put the food on the table. It’s a tight space between the kitchen and dining room so my cousin yells “WATCH HOT”. I am always the first to be sitting at the table so I could get the first plate. My granmom always sits at the top of the table because she is the heart of our family. The table is so loud from everyone talking and laughing about all the jokes their making and inside jokes we have. We all gossip about the latest things. After dinner my mom would always be the one to do the dishes. My granmom has a lot of things so sometimes she would find things she didn't want anymore so she would put them on the couch in the basement and call it a “yard sale.” She had so many cool little things and her shed was filled to the top with everything and decorations for each holiday. Her favorite were christmas and halloween. I once counted her christmas decorations and she had over five hundred of them. All my cousins and aunts are so excited and race each other down there so they can get what they want first. They always scoped out the basement before dinner. I go downstairs with them just to watch the entertainment because sometimes they fight over the things that want and me and my granmom are just laughing. We go back upstairs and get ready for dessert. Everyone gets some dessert and again sits and gossips. Now everyone slowing going home and’m usually the last one to leave. I leave around eight. I say good bye to my granmom and say I will see her tomorrow after school. Now a few years later it's around the time it snows again. She then passed away on December 9th 2015 right before christmas which was her holiday. We then sold her house about six months later. She lived in that house for over fifty years and created so many memories in that house with the people she loved the most. I never thought the last time I was in her house was going to be the last. I drive by it almost every day and it just isn't the same without all her creative window displays, Molly jumping on the front door, and the beautiful flowers she used to plant. My best friend lives next door and I just recently visited. I got out of the car and the grass was high with no flowers blooming, the lights are out, the door is closed and it is silent. I’m sure the new people there are making there own family memories but it's hard to think that someone else is in there in our families home that meant so much to us. I go on my friends deck and don’t see her green malibu car parked outback. We now have Thursday night dinners at my cousin's house and I walk up to the door and there Molly is barking and jumping up on the door but she's skinny and not as fluffy now. We still are making Thursday dinner memories but we know she's with us somehow. I’m so glad I got to spend almost eighteen years in that house with her and make so many great memories that I hope will never fade. She was my best friend and the best grandmother anyone could wish for.
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The presenter of the video we watched on reflective writing mentions that a reflection should not stop at simple descriptions of the 5Ws. Rather, a reflection should provide the 5Ws and focus on your feelings and your "thoughts about the event--during it, after it, and since." I worked by myself while writing this hiraeth. I don’t think this was the best approach because I think you could always use an opinion on your writing. This was my only choice though because my mom was at work and my dad was at his house and I don’t really have other options.
I think the most difficult part of my writing process was picking the scenes and understanding what exactly the prompt was. I knew basically what to do but I wanted to make sure. It was hard to pick a specific scene because there were so many to choose from. What I did to overcome them was I kept reading the prompt over and over again and to pick the scenes I had to think really hard. When I worked on my hiraeth was one whole day. I picked the only day I didn’t have school or work and took all day to work on it. This was the best approach I could do because I had school Tuesdays and Thursdays and I worked usually mostly every other day all day. Then I go home and go to bed so I had only that one day. Where I wrote this project was on my couch with my moms laptop, but my television was off. I choose to write my hiraeth about my granmom and her house because that was the first thing and only thing I could think of when I heard what hiraeth meant. It is the only home that I know of that I can’t go back to. How will I revise my writing process for future revision of the hiraeth assignment is when my mom is home and i’m on the couch writing I will put headphones in to zone the television out because she's watching it. This is my Hiraeth draft for my English 100 class.
I wake up and the snow is falling from the sky. It’s a Thursday morning and school is cancelled so I make my way to my granmoms house. I walk up the sidewalk and there is a little patch shoveled out on the grass for Molly. I walk up to the door and Molly is waiting for me barking. The small but chubby white fluffy dog is jumping up on me when I walk through the door. My granmom is sitting there waiting for me on her side of the couch. The other side was for my grandfather that I called uncle Lou. I can remember walking in when I was little and him sitting on the other end of that couch, but sadly he passed away when I was very young so it was just my grandmother in her house. She is watching her morning shows with yarn and a needle in her hand making all sorts of things like blankets. We then go and walk to the dining room where there are crafts and a sewing machine all over the table, different crafts every day. I sit on the tall stool at the kitchen island that is between the dining and living room. I always sit on the side by the deck door which is in the back of the dining room and she sits across from me. We always have the same thing for breakfast when i’m here, honey nut o’s, she has her Diet Pepsi and I have hot tea. After we're done she gives Molly the milk from her cereal and I said to her like always “This is why she is fat.” At 12:30 we sit down on the living room couch because it's time for her favorite show “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire.” She made sure we were always home by 12:30. She knew about every question and said “I could be on this show” every time she watched it. We walk down the stairs into the basement. The basement is huge with so many crafts to do. There are multiple sewing machines, tons of markers, crayons, fancy tape, a cricket which cuts out anything you want, and all different patterns and colors of paper. My granmom suggests that I make a scrapbook. We go get markers, glitter, stickers, tape, and tons of pictures of me when I was little. She helped me put the pictures on and the glitter. I still have the scrap book in my room till this day. By the time we're done it's almost three in the afternoon and the whole family is coming over for Thursday night dinners in less than three hours and we still have to prepare dinner and dessert. While I’m upstairs on the Ipad for a little I can smell the aroma of food going through the whole house. I go downstairs to the kitchen and see her cooking my favorite meal, chicken divan. It's chicken, broccoli, cream of chicken, mayo, and lots and lots of cheese. I help mix the cream of chicken and the mayo then sprinkle cheese all over and put it in the oven. She says “ do you want to make a dessert”. We decide to make peanut butter cookies which are my favorite out of her recipe book, or it might have been her mother's. We make them from scratch and I eat most of the batter of course. I then set the table with her glass plates with flowers on them and the silverware. Now it’s 5:30 and people start showing up. By six everyone is here, but my mom is always the last one. We all helped finish cooking and put the food on the table. I would always be the first one sitting so I could get the first plate. My granmom would always be sitting at the top of the table because she was the heart of our family. The table is so loud from everyone talking and laughing about all the jokes their making and inside jokes we have. After dinner my mom would always be the one to do the dishes. My granmom has a lot of things so sometimes she would find things she didn't want anymore so she would put them on the couch in the basement and call it a yard sale. All my cousins and aunts are so excited and race each other down there so they can get what they want first. They always scoped out the basement before dinner. Everyone slowing going home and I leave by eight I say good bye to my granmom and say I will see her tomorrow. Now a few years later it's around the time it snows again. She then passed away on December 9th 2015 right before christmas which was her holiday. We then sold her house about six months later. She lived in that house for over fifty years. I never thought the last time I was in her house was going to be the last. I drive by it almost every day and it just isn't the same without all her creative window displays, Molly jumping on the front door, and the beautiful flowers she used to plant. I’m so glad I got to spend almost eighteen years in that house with her and make so many great memories that I hope will never fade. She was my best friend. It’s a Thursday afternoon and I just got off the bus and am walking home to my granmoms house. I walk up to the door and Molly is waiting for me barking. The small but chubby white fluffy dog is jumping up on me when I walk through the door. As soon as I walk in the house is filled with the smell of food. I walk through the living room to the dining room where there are crafts and a sewing machine all over the table, different ones every day. I sit on the tall stool at the kitchen island that is between the dining and living room. My granmom is making lots of food for the whole family. Like she asked me every single day she said “ How was school” and I always say “fine” till the day she passed. Then she would ask me who is the new flavor of the week. I sat and did my homework and when I was done I helped her cook dinner and dessert. She taught me how to cook a lot of things, mostly desserts like cookies and cake. Then I would get out her glass plates with flowers on them and the silverware to set the table. We would always need to pull out the table and get extra chairs because the family would keep growing.
Then at around 5:30 every Thursday people started showing up one at a time for dinner. By six everyone was there and my mom was always the last one. We all helped finish cooking and put the food on the table. I would always be the first one sitting so I could get the first plate. My granmom would always be sitting at the top of the table because she was the heart of our family. The table is so loud from everyone talking and laughing about all the jokes their making and inside jokes we have. After dinner my mom would always be the one to do the dishes. My granmom had a lot of things so sometimes she would find things she didn't want anymore so she would put them on the couch in the basement and call it a yard sale. All my cousins would be so excited and race each other down there to get what they want first. We were all there till eight every Thursday. I'm so thankful that I got to spend so much time with my grandmother every day and on every Thursday with the whole family. Hiraeth is a welsh word which is difficult to translate into english. The definition is a homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. Basically this means a homesickness of a place or even person that you can not return to, a home that maybe never was. When I hear this word I think of my granmom and her house, and yes that is how she spelled grandmom. My family and I have so many memories in that house with her. This is something that I could talk about for my hiraeth. My granmom passed away last year right before christmas and christmas was her holiday. We had to sell her home after she passed that she lived in since my mom was born. She lived in that house for over 50 years. That house was like my second home. I went there everyday after school since about 3rd grade to 10th grade, but now I can’t go back because new people live there now. I kept going back to it after she passed and I never thought that would be the last time I would be there. My best friend lives next door to her house and when i'm there it just feels weird to see that other people are living there and that I can't just walk right in. Me and my granmom used to do everything together like cook, do lots of crafts, learn how to sew and everyday at 12:30 we had to sit down on her couch and watch “Who Wants to Be A Millionaire” because that was her favorite show. Thursdays after school I knew as soon as I walked in I can smell food being made for our thursday night dinners with the whole family. After I did my homework I would help her make dinner and dessert. I have so many great memories in that home that I sadly can't return to.
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