MEET MY FAMILY - HANAH

A picture of the front of our house

      I thought I should introduce you to my family and some other inhabitants in my home. 
     We live in a small house in a town called Hayward, Northern California. San Francisco, with it's streets washed in salt of the ocean and the fog is about forty five minutes away from us by car, across the expanse of Bay Bridge. Oakland is closer.
     We bought this house three years ago, when a lot of people were forced to sell their homes because of the economic downturn. Then it seemed like there was no room for anything in these walls. Now my father is gone, walking somewhere in the spirit world hand in hand together with my mom (at least, I hope so: she was not a very hand in hand walking together person in life). My daughter, Hanah, is in college. I'll start with her.

This is a picture of a picture of Hanah 

     Hanah was born twenty years ago, but to me it seems like it was yesterday. The pain of childbirth - only a dim memory by now, I can still hear her cry when they brought her to me in the morning after. She was too small, laying in her little see-through crib in the neo-natal ICU when she was not with me, learning to nurse. Some children resist doing that, do you know? Now I think sometimes that, as I coaxed and pushed her to eat in those first days, I might've coaxed and pushed her too much in some other things during her life with us. Everything seemed too important for her to miss because of the lack of her own desire or motivation. I am just guessing right now, but could it be that that is the reason why she still resists doing all the things that she needs to do for herself or getting in touch with me?  
     Hanah is an artist. When she was pint sized, she would take a large piece of white drawing paper (her grandpa was also an artist and things like white drawing paper, paint brushes and pencils were tucked away in every corner of his and mom's apartment). Hanah would take a large piece of white paper and draw animals. She drew them by categories: the sea animals, the farm animals, the pets, and so forth. I appreciated that kind of thinking; it looked like she was going to draw right through the whole animal kingdom.  

20 year old Hanah

     When she went to the Impact Academy of Art and Technology, a High School, Hanah began to take part in the Drama Club there. She had some good parts in their productions, as well as helped with scenery.  She was very lucky in that there were many people who encouraged her natural talent and abilities.
     Now she is in college, at least three hundred miles away. She helps at a theater in her University: works on the costumes and paints the scenery. I am very proud of her, but also wish for a chance to see her and the works that she's done.