The key to happines

Next door, Alexandra is wearing a sky blue jacket and cleaning up the trash. Greet me with a pretty face. She always looks bright and happy. Standing by her side makes me happy.

David mom Alexandra and I first met at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn. She and I went to a regular checkup to have a baby. I didn't believe that our encounter that started with the greetings of the eyes would live in the same block.

My child was born on December 18, and David was born on December 23. In other words, I met her in the hallway of the city hospital for almost 10 months. As immigrants, we talked about how to settle down and live well in the distant U.S. We sweetened each other the boredom of having to wait a long time in the hospital. A big woman from Poland and a small woman from Asia became close friends in December.

I was busy raising a child for a while, so I didn't hear from him. I bumped into her passing in front of my house. She came to buy a big building with 16 apartments and two shops at the end of the block came across me.

She first came to the U.S. and worked as a rich housekeeper for more than a decade, raising money without spending a penny. David's father also saved money by working in a steel mill for a long time. They are said to have combined their money to buy such a large building after marriage. How can she not sweep and wipe the building since it is such a building? Whenever I saw her sweeping the front of her house, her life has passed through my head at a fast. When she was working as a housekeeper, the white owner always made her kneel down and wipe the floor.

She and I met in the park almost every day raising a child. We worked together at the school for the children. She used to freeze water into a empty bottle of juice on a hot summer day and feed it to David. She lived frugally enough to not even recognize the label of Juice bottle because of its wear and tear. Not only did she pay off the mortgage, but also she became rich enough to have 52 acres of land in Upstate New York. She catches deer in her own land and makes kialbashi (Polish sausage) and distributes it to neighbors.

The happiness I want is not what parents make for me, nor what our husbands and children bring. I learned through her that the happiness I found by my own efforts grab my hands and did not leave.