I is for Inheritance

I can locate the Khmer in me in the mirror. The skintone. The lips. The nose. The eyes are somewhat small, I suppose, but that’s up for debate.

I can locate the Chinese in me in the mirror, too. The straight, thin, brown hair. The eyes. The skintone.

We are walking Venn Diagrams of our parents and our parents’ parents and our parents’ parents’ parents. And on and one. Bubbles merging into bubbles, us the shaded area where they overlap. And that is where our magic lies.

No need to be afraid that we are not enough this or too much that. No need to worry about whether we fit. We’ve been given our own place. There’s no need to disappear into one side or another. We were not made to be the same, not one of us. We were made to revel in the mixture of samenesses and differences. We were made this way.