My Family Culture

The three items would be:

• Bible
• A family photo of extended family
• Diary

        These three items are important to me because they all have significant meaning to me and how I have grown up withing my family culture. The photo is important because family means a lot to me, from age 13 my family on my father's side have been having family reunions as a way of keeping connected and passing on the legacy, and on my mother's side family is also important though we do not have reunions. The photo would be important because if I cannot be among them at least I would have a photo of my family to bring a smile to my face when I reminisce on all the memories we have made as a family.
       Within my family immediate and extended the christian faith has been extended down through generations, and a strong belief in having a relationship with God, this is why having the bible would be one of my items. I am able to read it and develop my relationship with God, maybe encourage others who may see the unfortunate circumstance as the end of a purposeful life. Although I have grown up reading the bible there are still many passages I would want to read, and being in a new country I may have more time to do such reading.
        The diary is an aspect in which I developed over the years of growing up. I started keeping records of events when I had to change homes in my country Barbados, I did not keep daily records but any eventful occurrence was recorded in my diary. It brought a about a method of venting when there was no one to express how I felt to, it also allowed me to keep records of things I may not remember years later, and it also allows me to see where I was and where I am now especially mentally and intellectually.

If I was told I could only keep one item, I would feel torn between which one to keep because they all mean something significant to me. It is difficult to part with something that has become a part of who you are, and one may try to hide and keep at least two of the items. A number of mixed feelings would arise; such as sadness, anger, betrayed, indecisiveness, dislike for the person(s) whom instructed such a choice to be made, etc.

In doing this exercise I have come to realise and understand a little more about my personal family culture, because through my experiences which make up my family culture, I would not have connected me keeping a diary to the family culture I was raised in. I say this because I do not know of any of my family members who keep diaries, but the experiences that I have faced and encountered brought me to a place where I saw a need to keep a diary. These experiences involve the culture of family.