javien

From the moment we opened that jar we never stopped seeing Pascuala. It was as though we literally and metaphorically cracked the lid on a new chapter. Just when we thought the exchanges would die down we received another knock on the door but this time it wasn’t Pascuala. Standing curiously on the opposite side of the peephole, with a workbook and pencil in hand, was 8-year-old Javien, her grandson.

 
Nothing could keep me from setting my heart loose.
 

No prior arrangements were made. A knock was about as formal as that first meet was going to get. I barely got out a ‘hi!’ when he informed me that his grandmother had sent him. Pascuala had a handful of English words in her arsenal, none of which would get her through an assignment. She assured Javien that ‘los muchachos de al lado’ would know how to help. We didn’t have the heart to turn him away. Stunned but humbled, we let him in and got to work.

At first, he was shy, reserving his words and doing a lot of nodding. I could tell he was surprised by the renovations in the apartment. He’d been there before. To our surprise, the previous tenant was another longstanding resident entrusted with babysitting him when he was younger. The further he stepped into the apartment the more his head swiveled. His eyes moved up, down, left, and right as he attempted to piece together the remaining memories of a space he knew so differently. Then, slowly, his words rolled in. The more we spoke the more comfortable he became. Before we knew it his shoulders had dropped and so had his timidness.

 
...it was clear to us that Javien didn’t need the help, he simply wanted the company.
 

After about an hour it was clear to us that Javien didn’t need the help, he simply wanted the company. That night was the first of many homework sessions. In celebration of a successful first, we ended the night with a dance and got schooled on the Floss. From that moment on Javien was more than a neighbor. He was like the son we never had. We couldn’t help but love him. I was determined to protect him and Pascuala inasmuch as God would allow me to, though, our time at this place was limited.

Never would I have imagined venturing outside of myself to know and love a pair of strangers. Never would I have freely welcomed strangers to know and love me. Irreverent of any barriers — cultural, socioeconomic, linguistic, and other — often drawn between the gentrified and the gentrifier, nothing could keep me from setting my heart loose. Little did I know I was in for the rollercoaster ride of my life.

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