Crazy Daisy

There is a difference in who you are and what your world tells you, you should be I learned this on my 13th birthday We were visiting Russia and Ukraine, formerly, The Soviet Union - where my parents grew up They brought me back, to show me where they came from, Some transitions are planned, Some are felt later on, much later Before that trip my world revolved around the midwestern suburbs I wanted to be just like the kids whose lunch bread was spread with peanut butter and jelly And who asked me to run around their front yards with the crazy daisy They were so American! And as first gen kids know, We are And we aren’t I realized what my parents experienced was unknown to me It made me sad and it made me grateful and it made me honored To be me And to come from them So, in between the cornfields and the crazy daisy yards, I grew pride, I found beauty in the differences - from the spread on my sandwich, to the cultural characteristics that make me whole I still remember the feeling of beginning the life long transition of drowning out what your world tells you you should be And just being you “Unless I am myself, I am nobody” - Virginia Woolf Love, Elana