Personal Narrative: Identifying My Heritage

As I get older it is becoming more important for me to be able to identify what my heritage is. Growing up in a blended family and not knowing my father until I was in my 30’s and losing him just a few years ago has left me with a feeling of the unknown. This isn’t the first time I have been asked to identify my heritage and once again I try to figure out how to identify myself, without any thoughts on where to begin. To not know where you come from or what your family blood line, is a feeling of sadness. I so badly want to have a connection to my past. Upon getting the syllabus for this course I reached out to my Uncle on my father’s side and started the process of trying to figure out just where my family comes from. On my father’s
Growing up in a home that valued family as whole including aunts, uncles, and many many cousins I feel blessed to remember many aspects of my childhood. There were so many of us, coming from a family with 13 aunts and uncles and 30+ first cousins, living in a small town, some would call us a tribe. One of my favorite memories that instilled a lot of value in our family was the Sunday dinners at grandmas after church. Gathering together and spending that time together laughing, playing, and with my grandparents were some of the greatest moments of my childhood. Today I try to instill that same family time, those same memories of coming together and sharing a meal, providing a safe place for the family to gather and be together. The dinners are far and fewer between as life gets busy; but the family dinners are still
I was raised to love and help those around me and during the interview that is something that was discussed a lot. I met Asima, a Bosnian woman who came to America when she was 29 years old and she truly was an inspiration. She talked about the vast difference in culture when it comes to family and community. She said that in Bosnia, everyone is family, even neighbors. That everyone looks out for one another. That people don’t go without because if your neighbor is in need then as a community they would come together and help. She said that was the hardest part about being