The House with the Red Door

by Annabelle Shapiro

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“She taught me the value that good deeds are always reciprocated.”

Both sides of my family immigrated to America recently. My parents came as children and went to school here, but I am a first generation American. My parents’ journey to America has taught me that in order to succeed in life, there are sacrifices that need to be made. My grandparents left everything behind, to give their kids a chance to succeed in the world. Both of my maternal grandparents have faced hardship at a young age, yet, they persevered and left so that their children did not have to experience what they had to. My maternal grandmother was born at the end of World War II in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, and my grandpa was born before the Soviet Union joined the war. He spent most of his childhood seeing the horrors of the war in his neighborhood, family, and country. My grandparents worked hard at school and in their jobs, but even so, they had to wait in line for hours in all kinds of weather to get basic necessities such as toilet paper or bread.

My grandparents had a happy life in Latvia, but they knew that the Soviet Union would not let anyone rise up, and that their children would also have to wait in line for food and basic necessities. So they left. At that time, no one could just leave; they had to be sponsored. So my grandma's aunt, who was already in America, sponsored them. My grandma has always been thankful for her aunt, and tries to pay it forward by teaching me and my brother to always help others. For the past few years, I've worked with a local organization in San Francisco. Within the organization I have worked with seniors who have been affected by dementia. This summer and the summer of 2019, I worked with an elderly lady. She was medium height, thin, and always liked having a warning before I arrived so she could apply some makeup and put on a nice shirt.

I went to her house almost every other day to bring her mail, keep her company and take her places. I used to walk from work to her house, passing busy Fillmore Street, usually turning the corner where Walgreens is, and then walking to her house. Though I never knew her house number, I always remembered it by the red door. All the other houses had drab-colored doors like gray or white to match the exterior, but hers was bright red, and when you stepped inside, it was like stepping back in time. The house was Victorian but the furniture was modern, and gave off a fifties vibe. And it was always warm in her house. I remember how excited she was to see me, and though she had dementia, it seemed that she remembered things better than I did. We spent a lot of time together this summer, and she was one of my favorite people to visit.

She always had stories about her family and her old work, and she gave me advice. She was very sweet and let me sign her up for classes at the JCC, or let me try to do activities with her. She was so thankful that I cared about her and her interest, that she tried to give me things, like these shirts that she had. One was white and the other black, and they were creased in different spots, which made them look very interesting. She told me about them and how she found them, and when I said that they were beautiful, she wants to give them to me. I ended up spending about ten minutes trying to convince her out of giving me the shirts. She kept on wanting to repay me for helping her and visiting her when she was sick, or just in general. My grandparents taught me that it is important to help others, and that by doing so, we feel good and the other person also feels good.

I may have not sponsored someone to help give them a better future, but I helped this elderly woman by increasing her qualities of life at that moment. And though that is not permanent, it made me feel better knowing that she was moving around and active with me, instead of lying around just reading, which is what she otherwise would have done. My time with her ended when my job ended, but she taught me the value that good deeds are always reciprocated.