Although my family currently lives in Massachusetts, my father’s side of the family lived in New York when he was younger. My father gave me a little silver ring with a blue jewel and a faded white jewel. The ring is quite small and doesn’t fit my finger, but sits with my other rings as a symbol of my heritage. The ring was given to my father from my great grandfather when he was a little boy. My great grandfather was fairly poor and worked many jobs. One of those jobs was in a jewelry store, where the ring came from. My great grandfather was one of nine in a big German and Irish family. Although the ring is not from Ireland or Germany, the ring acts as a symbol for the difficulties of living in a big family in the Bronx and acquiring jobs as a big immigrant family. My father claims he got the most genes from my great grandfather. Also, I look very similar to my father and got most of my genes from him. Although I have never met him, this ring makes me feel connected to my great grandfather who I received a lot of my genes from and reminds me of my heritage. 

– Brett Holland

Relationship:  unknown unknown