My mother was born in Gateshead, England, which is better known as Newcastle. She grew up swimming in “baths”, camping in the country, and having Sunday dinners with her grandparents.  But in 1982 England went through repression. The company my grandfather had worked at for 40 years gave him a choice: he could move to America or quit. Since the repression made it extremely difficult to find jobs, my grandparents, my 11-year-old mom, and her 17-year-old brother moved to Fort Wayne, Indiana. They then moved to Maryland, before finally settling down in Georgia. My grandfather still lives there but my uncle moved to California and my mom to NYC. Moving so often was never easy for my mom, she was often excluded because her peers had known each other for their entire life, and a foreigner with a funny accent was strange and unappealing to them. On top of that, all of her relatives and friends were far away in England. So on big holidays, when my mom and the rest of her family couldn’t see their relatives, they would buy lots of English desserts, such as Quality Street candy and sticky toffee pudding, in order to feel closer to home. My mom and my uncle's favorite desserts were always Quality Street candy, so to this day, eating them on holidays, such as Christmas is a huge tradition!

– Claire Syrett

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