Maria has a very simple and happy life at seventy-five years old. She spends half of each year living with her grandson, Gabe Lupu and his parents who live thirty minutes from The University of Michigan. The other half of the year, she lives in Romania, alone. Her husband died many years
ago, and almost her entire family lives in the United States, so she prefers
living in Michigan. Every day is the same routine: “English as a Second Language”
class from 9:30am to 12:30am, then cooking and taking care of everything at home. There is the one day a week when her and Gabe’s mother drive up to Ann Arbor
to visit Gabe. It was Maria’s birthday on October 30th during her “English as a Second Language” class. That day, she of course learned some English but mainly celebrate her birthday with her classmates and
daughter. Her classmates and teacher shared so much love and laughter with her
the entire day as they ate pumpkin pie and made fun of each other’s English. A
couple days later, Gabe drove home from Ann Arbor to spend time with Louie, his four year old puppy and Maria while
she cooked and looked through old photos from her childhood. Maria's father died when she was only two years old and explained how growing up
without a father effected her life tremendously and shaped her into the tough but loving woman she is today.
