A Palestinan American friend, upon learning where I lived, recalled that while growing up in Ann Arbor, his best friend’s family used to live at the end of my street. It was like his second home, and he and his friends used to go back and forth between the two houses all the time, especially during the summer. He said that even though the other family has long since moved away, his mom still goes there to pick the grape leaves that now grow through the back fence into the park.
Hey, I know that house.
My Lebanese American neighbor also goes to the same secret spot to pick grape leaves with which to make dolmas.
That night as I ran my dog around the block, I found an errant grape plant that had migrated and planted itself in the front yard of that house and had begun to trellis itself up a utility pole. I touched its leaves and thought about the immigrants that have come before and how no one knows all the small ways one touches and changes the world and people around us. (click on link for more)
Unwittingly touching and changing the world and people around us - AnnArbor.com
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