When I was young and still recovering from my parents splitting up, I remember feeling like I didn’t have any dreams for my future. It was hard to imagine what life was going to be like and I didn’t like thinking about it. Looking back, I realize I was still trying to find my place in my parents' new relationship. Eventually life started settling into a new rhythm that felt more secure. Gerry, who would eventually become my step-dad, had just been introduced into my life and I remember I still wasn’t sure what to make of him other than he was a famous world-wide traveler and that he had climbed Everest a couple of times. I started to want to travel the world like him. Since I was 3 years old, my mom and I always traveled together to places like Italy or France or Belize, but Gerry inspired me to want to see more exotic places like Nepal or India or Bhutan. This idea really kicked off when he brought me back one day a handcrafted Tiki statue from Tahiti. It sits next to my bed on my nightstand and it is often the first thing I see in the morning or the last thing I see at night before I turn the light off. Over the years now, we’ve traveled together as a family on a lot of adventures around the world, but I have yet to go to Tahiti!  Traveling together to distant places has really helped to cement Gerry as part of our family and it has allowed me to realize that exploring the planet is a big part of what I want to do with my life in my future.

– FA

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