My grandfather was a wise old man and every time I visited his house he always had a hat on a glass table that was propped against a wall on the right side of his house. I always wanted to pick it up and pretend to live in the 60’s. One day I asked my grandfather why that hat was sitting there and it’s meaning. He told me that he fought in the Czech Republic war, and that was the same hat he put on whenever he went into the hiding spot for the war. He said it represented all of the good times he had, and all of the drinks he had with his war buddies. Since the war, the hat was never touched or worn. I was amazed because he didn’t speak much English, but that hat spoke a thousand words. When he passed away 5 years ago, we were emptying his house and that hat never moved. My father moved toward the hat, picked it up, and said “It’s yours.” I looked at my father, and I said why, why me? He said that his dad loved his grandsons more than anything, and he wanted me to have it since his story touched me the most. I was touched and in my house, I have that exact same hat on a in the same position, with his name on the side. 

– Joseph K.

Relationship:  Grandchild of im/migrant Grandchild of im/migrant