I have a vacation scheduled in the next few weeks to go to Puerto Rico. This is my first trip and I am super excited to see where my father was born, meet cousins that I don’t know and reconnect to my roots.

I am of mixed ethnicity as most United States citizens are. My mother’s family is from Albania and my father was born in Puerto Rico. I didn’t grow up with my father in my life and didn’t really explore this side of myself until I was able to do it myself as I got older. So traveling to Puerto Rico is bringing out a lot of joy and a feeling of reconnecting to something that I lost.

I am traveling with my wife, my half sisters (they grew up with my father) and their children and my one sisters husband (poor guy other than the children there are no other guys coming!) Exploring my heritage with my siblings has been something we have talked about for years. My one sister has spent a lot of time in Puerto Rico over the past few years and has really felt the pull and connection to the land.

My daughter went to Puerto Rico last year and despite countless years of making sure she understood that she is Puerto Rican she never felt connected to it until she went. She now feels more connection and proudly displays the Puerto Rican flag. Given that we are white presenting it’s not hard to understand her hesitancy to claim her roots as so many don’t even believe us.

So I’m excited for the experience of connecting to my roots.