Getting to know myself – prompt 38 – the heart as it is

Today’s question from Onsite is “What are some of the highs from your family of origin that have supported you over the years?”

It feels interesting to see that there is a question here that is intended to elicit a positive response. One quick and easy thing that comes up is my parents’ general support of my creative endeavors, in particular my mother. She was always wanting me to find something that I wanted to enjoy creating and playing and doing, so I tried out so many different sports, lessons, and hobbies. I ended up with doing a lot of music, and I am thankful for that and also still try to figure out other creative things on my own.

Another thing that is coming to mind is my parents’ importance of having my sister and I be connected to our heritage. We attended about 8 full years of intense Chinese school – and when I say intense, I mean REALLY intense. It was everyday after school from 1st grade to 8th grade (for me), for about 2-3 hours each time. We were also there for many long breaks and holidays. For those days, we had a mix of math and Chinese lessons, but most of the lessons were Chinese. I hated it growing up, but looking back, without it, I would not have the Chinese language foundations I have now for an ABC (American-born Chinese… Taiwanese, technically). I still need to improve my Chinese a lot but those foundational years made a huge difference on my language learning and continues to help me connect better to my heritage today.

Thank you for reading !