In my lifetime, I have migrated many times with my family. When I was born in 2001, we still lived in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. In 2003, we moved to Mattapoisett, where I spent thirteen years, and we’ve been Tri-Town citizens from then on. First, we lived on Crooks Way. Two years later, in 2005, my maternal grandfather died, so we moved in with my grandmother on Church Street for the next seven years, so she wouldn’t be alone. In May of 2012, we moved inside of Mattapoisett to a home nearer to Rochester, on Hiawatha Way. In my freshman year of high school, in 2016, we moved to Rochester, where we live now. We live on the corner of the road where my maternal aunt lives and five minutes from my paternal Nana. At this point, maybe I should move to Marion to complete the Tri-Town Trifecta.    

I don’t fully know my family’s immigration story, except that both sides of my family were originally from the Azores, and part of my dad’s family was from Ireland. This connects to one of my objects, which is the Farias family crest that my younger sister Bridget designed. “Farias” is Portuguese for “beacon”, hence the depiction of the lighthouse at Ned’s Point drawn on the crest. On top of that, the lighthouse was a major landmark in the town of Mattapoisett, where I grew up for more than half of my life, which is why I also included a picture of the actual lighthouse that I recently took. It’s such a massive part of my childhood that I would have felt remiss if I didn’t include both. 

– RF

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant