One week after my grandmother’s death, I was rummaging through her jewelry box. Her funeral was only an hour or two away, and my grandfather told me how much she wanted me and my cousins to have her jewelry. She and I had wildly different tastes in jewelry, which is why shock spread across my face as I dug deep and found a dainty gold necklace with a delicate, white crystal pendant. My grandmother, grandfather, cousins, aunts, and uncles all live in rural Texas, with their culture and way of life differing vastly from the bustling, busy lifestyle of the city of lights that is Las Vegas. When my mom moved to California to marry my dad, they decided to move to Las Vegas ten years later. Because of the distance, I was not close to my extended family and rarely craved the “get-togethers” and general aspects of familial bonding. The day my grandmother passed away, a hole was ripped into my heart that I did not even know was filled by her. Guilt and grief still consume my being - about not being more involved with her, about not reaching out more, about not listening to her stories, about not being as enthusiastic and extroverted. Wearing my grandmother’s pendant and jewelry helps me feel connected to her, alongside representing her and myself. Even when the gemstone dulls and the chain breaks, I will honor her. As I uplift my grandmother’s legacy with this necklace, I am reminded to make choices she would be proud of and try my hardest - if not for me, for her.

– Justice Sidney

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant