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Nava, Jalimar Paredes

Collin College 
DigitalCommons@Collin 
INRW/Coreq Student Showcase Developmental Education 
Spring 5-6-2024 
Grandma's Dining Room with the Aroma of Coffee and Love 
Jalimar Paredes Nava 
Collin College 
Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/inrwshowcase 
Recommended Citation 
Nava, Jalimar Paredes, "Grandma's Dining Room with the Aroma of Coffee and Love" (2024). INRW/Coreq 
Student Showcase. 16. 
https://digitalcommons.collin.edu/inrwshowcase/16 
This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Developmental Education at DigitalCommons@Collin. 
It has been accepted for inclusion in INRW/Coreq Student Showcase by an authorized administrator of 
DigitalCommons@Collin. For more information, please contact mtomlin@collin.edu. 
Grandma’s Dining Room with The Aroma of Coffee and Love 
There were only bread and sugar on the top of the circular table, but the Flor de Arauca 
coffee and her by my side were more than enough. When I looked down, I could always see my 
feet through the table’s transparent, heavy, and clean glass. However, if I raised my gaze, there 
she was, my grandmother, the woman with the snowflake on her head and hands as wrinkled as 
rain, touching my face with her cotton hands, always telling me that everything would be okay, 
even if she lies. 
I was sitting on a hard stone, where my bones could feel the ground, on an old chair that 
sounded like the cabinet from XIX. The bitter smell of the roasted Venezuelan coffee seeds 
always made me wake up, so pure as the heart of the women who prepared them; that’s how it 
should smell to enter heaven, with the black coffee that burned my tongue but woke up my soul. 
In the back, I could hear the repetitive sound generated by the sun when it was up in the sky: the 
turpial and cardenalito birds singing, while the rooster was crowing and proclaiming a new day. 
The potent morning drink, sweetness as her smile, and the bitterness and sharpness made 
the day go faster. When I was there every morning, I felt alive; the coffee’s hot steam always 
reminded the warmth of family and home. 
Sitting inside my head, there will always be my grandmother’s tips and advice; 
sometimes, they are as hard as a punch on the face but, most of the time, sweet like the taste of 
pink guava in my mouth. I wish every day I could enjoy the feel of my bones touching the stiff 
wooden seat of the old chair, and look at her, who explains to me all life’s tricks, the unknown 
and what everyone hides. Sitting in that dining room, we focus on love, and are accompanied by 
a cup of the sweetness and strong coffee that remind me of Grandma’s warmth. 


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