These are good luck charms that are placed by the doorways/entrances of my house. They mean “[to have] Peace Entering and Exiting” and “Good Health,” respectively. These are so ubiquitous to any place that I call “home” that I even brought these specific ones to hang up on the door of my dorm room, so that I would always be reminded of home and my culture, despite living away from my family. Whenever I see them, I am given a sense of peace, and it helps me adopt a more positive attitude. Every Lunar New Year, my mom and I would replace the old charms with new ones, symbolically bringing in more good fortune in the year to come. This tradition always reminds me of how hard my parents had to work to get to this point, and how all of our “good fortune” is actually a product of their sacrifices for me and my siblings. My mother immigrated to America while she was a teenager and she was still able to have a successful career, and yet she gave up all that in order to better care for my siblings and I. My father has worked tirelessly his whole life, first helping his immigrant parents run the family restaurant, putting himself through a college education, and working while still helping me and my siblings with homework or extracurriculars. I owe all of my good luck, “Peace,” and “Good health” to my parents’ endless dedication. I will keep hanging these up wherever I reside, in order to remind me of my parents, family, and ancestors, and that I owe all of my successes to them.

-ML

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