For the past nine years, a yellow sewing box has sat in the hall closet right next to my parent’s room, one room away from my room, on the second floor of my house. It has been there through Halloween costumes, Catholic school skirt hems, prom dress malfunctions, and worn-out stuffed animals. I have always known that my dad was adopted. I have known that the biological lineage of half of my being has been misplaced since I was born. My dad left New Jersey for college to go to Notre Dame in Indiana and then he came back to New Jersey to be a C.P.A. in New York. Then he decided to apply to law school and was accepted to Villanova, Pepperdine, and the University of Miami. Ultimately, my dad chose Pepperdine. In July 1981, my dad left New Jersey/New York, with a law degree in his future and that yellow sewing box in his car. It was my dad’s grandmother’s sewing box and then his mother’s sewing box. In March 1989, my dad went to a party in Malibu and happened to meet a beautiful, blonde, California-born teacher. They started dating and months later were engaged then married. My mother now uses that yellow sewing box. Now, I have taken our lineage back to its original origin: New York. Coming back to the place of my dad’s childhood feels like we have come full circle.

– Caitlin Bury

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