Saturday, May 12, 2012

My Family Culture

This assignment was very interesting to me. I had to think of "things" that make up my family culture and narrow down three items that I would take with me after vacating my country and moving to a new country. Luckily, my family is going with me, so I thought about the things that define us and here is my list.

  • My daughter's memory book: Since I discovered I was pregnant with my daughter in 2006, I have kept a book of memories. Inside the book are milestones, her drawings, a lock of hair (first hair cut), pictures and written memories. This book would remind me of how important life is and we look at this book often. She loves to read about herself as a baby and I love to be reminded of how little she once was. 
  • The iPod my husband and I share. My husband and I have downloaded many songs on our iPod--even songs for our daughter--and we love listening to the music. When we grill out at night, we play our iPod and sing/dance to the music. Every evening before bed, my daughter sings and dances for us--she loves to entertain. It's a joy to watch her and it makes our evening. The performing has become a nightly ritual and I would hate to lose this ritual!
  • A framed picture of the entire family. This picture has all members of my family (mom, dad, brother, sister, etc.) and I would take this to remind myself how lucky I was. I was lucky growing up in a great, loving home and I was lucky to live next door to the home I grew up in--and my parents still live there!
The items would be easy to explain--I think I explained their meanings quite well. Anyone would be able to see the love these items bring to my family and me. These items would remind us of how special we are and how our comfort items make us who we are. 

If I was told I could only keep one item, it would have to be my daughter's memory book. My daughter is our world and losing those memories would be very traumatic. I understand I have stored memories, but pictures, drawings, milestones--they are hard to replace. I would hope I could keep all items--this was a difficult choice for me. 

This exercise made me realize how we take our everyday comforts for granted. How would I feel if my daughter couldn't "perform" every night with song and dance? How would I feel if I couldn't keep photographs of my family? Music, photos, memories--they are all very important to us and we would be lost without them.
Family Photo I would take...

5 comments:

Julie Rand said...

What a beautiful posting Rebekah! I found it hard to even think of 3 things. I already had my family so everything else would be easier to give up. I can understand the importance of the memory books. However, I did not choose that item because I have made many of them and have 3 children and many books...so how could I choose only one?!? Thank you for your beautiful posting. You have a gorgeous familY!

Christine said...

I love your family picure. I also wanted to bring pictures. With so many albums it would be hard to chose. I decided on the one with the kids' baby pictures. I would have to leave the memory book behind because they have grown into memory boxes. I hadn't thought about bringing our ipod. Ours has videos, pictures, and music on it.

Ginny said...

Rebekah,
This was a difficult task and I think we do take somethings for granted. We assume these things will always be with us. I had a disaster happen last year where we lost many belongings one was a family history book. There are somethings that can not be replaced and your daughters memory book is one of them. Yes, you have the memories, books are like treasure. I would take a family recipe book which also includes family photos. I did not think about electronics at all, I guess I assumed I would be going somewhere that may not have electricity and I would have to live in a tent. I only have my phone but I use it for everything. It's interesting to read what people would bring. This really did require a lot of thought.
Ginny

Barbara2 said...

Rebekah,
When I tried earlier to get on you blog I could not get through. Your pictures are precious. It is hard to decide things like this assignment but it was a good exercise. Very thought provoking.
Barbara

DeWana said...

Rebekah,
Our post are similar. People understand that diversity means different but we all still don't quite understand how to accept the differences.