My mother is an immigrant from Ufa, the Republic of Bashkortostan's capital city. Bashkortostan is a Russian republic located between the Ural Mountains and the Volga River. The entirety of my mom's side of the family, including my grandmother, aunt, and cousins, still live in Russia to this day. My mother lived there until she was 23 years old, which was when she immigrated to the United States. This is where she met my father and started a family. I was her first child, followed by my two brothers. Russian culture and language was very important to my mother, so she did her best to make sure that her children grew up knowing how to speak and read Russian by exposing us to Russian cartoons and books from an early age. We would usually visit my mother's side of the family in Russia every year. As a result of her efforts to pass down her culture, my brothers and I are bilingual in both English and Russian.
Not much is known about this particular rug. However, it holds a large amount of sentimental value to my mother. This rug belonged to her grandmother (my great-grandmother), who passed away when I was too young to remember. Shortly after I was born, my parents moved from California to Kansas. My parents and I lived in Kansas for 9 years, where my two brothers were born. This was when my mother brought the rug to America after a visit to Russia. In 2011, when I was 9, my family moved back to California, and my family and I have been living there ever since. The rug is still with her, and now it hangs on a wall above a couch in my parents' living room. 

– Clara McGaughey

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant