Sacred Objects
TCKs (Third Culture Kids), and for many of us who have had to move around, carry sacred objects. These objects might be the one thing that has stayed with us throughout our moves. Sacred objects can come to represent a place or a person or provide a sense of comfort in being one thing in our lives that we didn't have to say goodbye to.
A small painted stone sits by my bed. It's painted green, because that's my favorite color. Green that reminds me of all of my places - sod and corn fields, mango trees and mountains, palm fields and jasmine bushes.
It has little colorful dots on it - fingerprints of my little boy, my Venezolano and it reads "Te Quiero, Mamá." It was made at his preschool - where I learned to make Venezuelan mom friends and what it felt like to try and understand parent newsletters and teacher comments on my child's progress in the little notebook all written in Spanish. The rock is green because my beautiful boy at the age of 2 knew his mama's favorite color.
It is a heavy rock - fits in my palm and reminds me of the walks he and I took from the school to the car, where my son always had to stop to smell the flowers and how I wouldn't let him pick the live flowers for fear the neighbors would be upset. It was a walk filled with flowers, tall walls with broken glass and barbed wire, dog poop, and busy street sounds. But it also felt a little safe because it was behind a guard gate inside a small community of tall buildings. And when the protests were happening and my son was one of a few kids who could get to school - though it was just up from the highway where most of the protests were happening with tear gas and fires - it felt safe right there, with people who cared for my son.
It wasn't perfect but they tried in the midst of their country falling apart. They tried to be safe for my son and that gave me a small bit of that safe feeling too - which was almost always not present.
What is your sacred object? What story does it tell?
Your voice and your story matter and I'd love to hear about your sacred object. Connect with me and share.