My Family Culture

 

As my imagination can run away from me at times, I am imagining a major catastrophe that has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of our country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if we are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. My immediate family is among the survivors of this catastrophic event.  We have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. We are told that our host country’s culture is completely different from ours, and that we might have to stay there permanently. We are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, we can only take 3 small items with us. The three items we decide to take that we hold dear and that represent our family culture are:

·    Eskimo Doll ~ this is the last Eskimo Doll made by my 8-year-old daughter’s grandma who passed away at the age of 82 in April 2007.  The doll was hand sewn with rabbit, musk rat and seal skin and represents the culture and traditions of Inupiaq Eskimos.  Grandma Amy grew up in the village of Shishmaref, Alaska; she lived her entire life fully living the culture and traditions of the Inupiaq ways.

·    Wooden Clock ~ this clock was hand made in wood shop by my 30-year-old daughter when she was in high school.  Not only has this clocked looked beautiful in every home I have lived in during the last 15 years, it has also contributed to my emotional balance during some of the late nights that I could not sleep.  I have a habit of sitting in the dark to process my worries and listening to this clock tick tick tick in the quiet house has provided comfort and peace in my heart.

·    Laptop ~ because all the family pictures are stored on the laptop, it is mandatory that it join us on this journey.  Older pictures such as the picture of my mom and dad’s wedding picture have been scanned and stored on the laptop and on an external hard drive.  Our family has had the opportunity to travel extensively in the United States with several trips to Hawaii and of course, all our Alaskan adventures have been captured in photographs.

If, once we arrived into the unknown country that has been so gracious to allow us to make this our new home, we were told we could only keep one of the above three items my heart would be heavy with sorrow because they all mean so much to me and my family.  I would ultimately want to keep the laptop because of all the pictures taken of each of us in our home country.

As a result of this assignment, insights I have gained about myself is how much I could live without.  Thinking about items that have truly added value to my life helped me realize that it really is the simple things in life that support the preservation of culture and traditions.