The importance of family

As I was flipping through the pictures that I have accumulated over the past four years, I started to realize the importance of family. Regardless of your family's background or relationship, they are the people who you usually have the most memories with. And even if you don't have a very strong family or never see your family, there are those people that you make as family. I guess basic human instinct is to find people that you can have memories with. Being in Japan makes me realize how important it is to have the memories that I have of my own family. I'm starting to realize things that I haven't before; things that I was either too young to realize or things that I didn't realize because I was at home. I'm starting to understand the choices that were made in my upbringing or things that I often took for granted.

Right now in one of my schools, there is one teacher that is really interested in the Japanese-American experience. I've been teaching the class about my own childhood and things that make me special as a Japanese-Chinese-American. There are certain things that I never thought was special, until now. I've just asked my aunts and my father what their experience was growing up. Now, I feel like I've learned so many things about my family. I never knew my great-grandfather was an activist for Japanese workers, that my great-grandmother was a picture bride, that my grandfather was a "no-no" boy. I feel a little silly that it took this teacher to open up stories that I had complete access to before. For that, I'm grateful. I wish I had known this when my grandparents were alive. I would have liked to hear their stories. I feel that being away has given me a time to really reflect on my family and their importance. For them (my family), I am grateful.