My object is a baby photo, rusted up the edges with dusty colors revealing two toddlers, my younger brother and I. Why is this item important to me? It’s my mother’s joy, it’s what she would look at when she was going through a rough time that was by herself or either involved us. On some occasions she would pull out the photo and tell us all about it.

She hasn’t given me info on her birth date and why she moved out of Puerto Rico to the United States. The baby photo goes way back, it's one of the closest things that makes my mother happy due to what she’s already dealt with like parental issues, custody problems or just overall when our family wasn't it the best shape; emotionally and mentally, perhaps physically. She would pull it out and tell us about how young we were, how we acted towards each other or how it reminded her of Puerto Rico, where she came from. It was rare but sometimes she’d switch from speaking on the baby photo to telling us how beautiful Puerto Rico is. Always speaking on how the houses and pools looked absolutely beautiful, wanting us to taste the natural fruits from there. She always wanted to take us there so we could see how great it was and why it meant so much to her. 

The baby photo at times makes me feel much closer to my family than how I usually feel and other times seeing how the photo shifted into speaking of Puerto Rico made me always want to explore more on my culture.     

Relationship:  Im/migrant who arrived as a child Im/migrant who arrived as a child