All four of my grandparents were born in the USSR long before it fell. When they immigrated here in the 80s and 90s, I really liked talking to them about how their life was back in the USSR, and one day, when I was talking to my grandpa, he gave me a gift. A tin can full of coins from the Soviet Union and he explains to me: “I hope that when you are old and have grandchildren, you give these coins to them to let our family history live on.” I never really resonated with this until his death. When he passed away, I looked back at this tin and remembered what he said. Although these coins are only worth a couple of dollars, to me, they are worth something more that can never be replaced with a number value. The history of my family, and more specifically, my grandfather. Immigration was hard for them, tiring, and traumatizing, yet all my grandparents still make that huge effort to share their story so that it gets passed on from generation to generation. Ukrainian will always accompany my American identity to show off who I am and where my family comes from. These Soviet coins will one day, as all things do, get lost. But I hope that as long as I am around, that won’t happen. My history, my family’s history, and the country they come from’s history will not be forgotten.

– MZ

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant