In a short time, I found out the stars and the earth belonged to each one of us, and we needed to become the caretakers, interacting with the benevolent birds I played with when tossing crumbs in cracked spaces near the hydrangeas, trying to feed those beautiful creatures that my mother had joyfully invited into the family, eating from the succulent grapevines and fig trees they would pluck at, much to my grandfather’s dismay and sheer annoyance. And then there was my family, that bore no resemblance to sweaty humans barely stirring on plastic l…