My Family Culture

My Family Culture

"A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country's culture is completely different from your own and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture." 

It is very difficult to think about only being able to take three items that represent your family culture along with a change of clothes. After anguishing over having to leave so many wonderful things behind, I decided on the items I would bring with me. 

If I could only take three things that represented my family culture, I would take my quilt, my wedding ring, and photos on a flash drive. 

The quilt is made of squares of my childhood clothing that my grandmother made for me when I was in elementary school. Most of the clothing was from my early childhood. I slept with this quilt every night well into my teenage years. When the edges became worn, my grandmother and my mother worked together to make a border around the quilt to help preserve it. It has moved around with me everywhere I have been. 

My wedding ring is my husband's grandmother's ring. She knew before we did that I would be the one to wear it. She was the most important person in my husband's life and was an amazing, loving woman. I am honored to have her ring and would not trade it for a newer ring or replace the diamond, even though the diamond was cracked from being jostled around before making its way to me. 

The flash drive with photos would hold all of my pictures of my family. It would help me to remember all the good times I have had with my family. It would also help in telling my children stories about their family and all the fun we had growing up. 

If I was told I could only keep one personal item upon arrival, I would choose my wedding ring. Not only did the ring go through a lot but so have we as a family. This ring symbolizes everything we are as a family and what we did to make it to this point so far. 

Thinking about this scenario was really eye-opening. Narrowing it down to only three items was very difficult. I would have to give up so many things such as my phone, important documents, heirlooms from my family, artifacts from my birthplace, and many other things. It really put into perspective what refugees go through when they are uprooted from their homes and what they must go through. It also put into perspective the importance of family. I would be content with just having my family with me if I had no other choice. Things are just things. It is the memories and stories I take with me to share with my family that would help carry on our family culture.