In the early 1900s, my mom’s side of my family moved to the United States. They didn’t take much, but they did take part of a set of chopsticks that had been in the family for multiple generations prior. The rest of the set was lost during the revolution, but the pairs that they did take are in my house now. They mean a lot to our family, as they have been with us for over 200 years, so we take good care of them. The pair on the left represents good luck because of the red, and prosperity because of the gold. The ones right of that represent beauty, because of the flowers. The ones after those have a running rabbit on them, representing adventure, or travel. The ones on the far right have a design that is meant to be waves, representing flexibility. There were more in the set, including one with a moon, meaning calm, one with a scroll of paper, representing knowledge, and one with a dragon, representing strength. Even though part of the collection was lost, we still value the 4 pairs we have, which in their own way represent the struggle that my family went through to get into the country, being crammed on a crowded boat for multiple weeks, getting seasick, catching a cold, and more. They represent the life that our family left behind for a new one, and remind us not to forget about it as long as we have them. 

– A

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more