My family story is that both my mother and birth father are from Argentina, but their great grandparents came from Italy. My mother came to America for a better job (she is now a nurse). I don’t know about my father’s reasons, except for working in America to support his family financially. When my mother and birth father met each other they worked together to get an apartment, then they had me. But my birth father had his own family to support which complicated his relationship with my mother. Sometimes he wasn’t home to support his old family or his new one. Soon I became the living proof of my father’s love for his own family. Later his brother, my Uncle Leo, came to help him out and he saw what he was dealing with and needed help. One day my uncle took me to a soccer game, which is how I learned about soccer, and then he got me my hat that I still have to this day. I also learned about my Argentinian heritage that way. This artifact is important to me because it is a bookmark for a very important time in my life. It is also important because it tells me that in Argentina I have a big family waiting for me down there. Argentina has a long history of soccer since Argentina’s soccer teams make up most of the 10 ten best South American soccer teams, such as Boca Juniors, Independiente, and River Plate. 

– Thomas Yaldiz

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