My mother was born and raised in Japan.
She loved cats, piano, and English.
In college, she majored in English literature and got an English teacher’s license.
I was born and raised by a mother like that.
I loved cats and piano, but I was not interested in English.
When I entered junior high school,
She patiently taught me pronunciation, grammar, and even made a vocabulary book for me.
But these teachings only passed through my body.
Then one day, she suddenly passed away.
Her body had been attacked by cancer cells without anyone noticing.
I stood in front of her coffin, filled with anxiety and sadness.
I was worried about my future without my mother.
Twenty years passed in the blink of an eye.
I graduated from college, got a job, got married, and had a child.
Then I came to New York in September 2022.
It is a future that I never expected twenty years ago.
I feel that it is with my mother’s guidance that I’m learning English in New York.
I’m sure she hopes I will learn a lot and enjoy it a lot.
She is not here, but she is here.
Now, I have a little daughter who will turn three years old.
She doesn’t know anything about her grandmother yet.
When she grows up, I will tell her.
My mother loved cats, piano, English, and me, deeply.
Mariko Matsumoto, age thirty-two, is from Tokyo, Japan and came to New York in 2022. When Mariko Matsumoto first came to the United States, she couldn’t speak any English, but since attending classes, she has learned to speak little by little. At the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library, Michele Persaud is her teacher and Sherin Hamad is the hub manager. Mariko Matsumoto writes: “I really appreciate NYPL for giving me such a good opportunity.”