Ever since I was born, my life has been documented in pictures. This was created to give to me when I left for college hence the name The Twelve Things I will Miss Most About Emma When She Leaves for College. The photos were selected to represent actions and character traits that my family highly values. Laughter, smiles, school, caring for animals, extracurricular activities, family love, and important memories are some of the highlighted subjects. These are some of the most important aspects of life according to our family values. 

My family extended from decades ago originally were immigrants from Germany. The importance of family was strongly focused on during this time. The strength that my family was enduring this time is a large part of our family pride and history.  We still contain pictures from the late 1800’s of my early family members that are passed generationally through our families. There are many picture books such as mine that are being passed throughout my family to keep our family members memories alive which I will inherit. These contain pictures that I would review with my grandparents on the fireplace as they taught me about my past and how I still need to keep them alive in my future.  

 I hope to continue the tradition of the photo book with my own child. This simple object plays such a large role in my family’s history. In our family, photo books are the biographies of each member. Although to the average, person they may seem like just pictures but, to our family it is the story of our lives. 

– Emma Ross

Relationship:  Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more Great-grandchild of im/migrant or more