I am from a city where the weather is ice cold, numbing your fingers and ears to scorching hot making you sweat every moment of the day desperate for ice water and shade. 

I am from where there are always people bustling around and tending to their business.

I am from a neighborhood where people grow up next to the sidewalk covered in chalk in the shade of the trees near the park while there is someone selling refreshing lemonade.

I am from a place that I call home for the past 11 years and everywhere I look there are memories that remind me how and where I grew up.

I am from the brisk mornings when I walk downstairs and my feet touch the cold floor as I sit down to eat my breakfast freshly woken up.

I am from dark, lazy nights when the silence of everyone asleep fills my ears.

I am from honesty and creativity.

I am from laughter, smiles, and imagination.

I am from competitiveness and intelligence.

I am from learning in school almost everyday with friends and teachers working together.

I am from wearing a cotton, rough, mask over my mouth and nose everyday to the point where I don’t feel complete when I go outside without it.

I am from 1 year of a global pandemic that everyone has suffered from and how it isolates you from your friends and sometimes even family.

I am from waiting for everyone to get a small dose from a small needle to stop a global pandemic.

I am from going more than 10 hours on a plane every summer to reunite with my aunts, uncles, grandpa, and grandmas and spend time with them.

I am from catchy music that I listen to on many different occasions.

I am from a lot of things but most of all,

I am from people

How they help me grow and learn

Be happy and always make me laugh 

How some are my friends and others are family.

I am from growing everyday

From the people I look up to.

This is where I’m from.