Jun — I got choked up reading this. My daughter was born in China, and so much of what you wrote reminded me of her and her experience. As a family we feel pressured all the time to celebrate her heritage (and we do), but I want it to feel authentic, not forced. Then someone once said to me, “Why do you only celebrate her Chinese heritage? What about your husband’s Irish heritage?” And it hit me: in our attempts to be inclusive and noble, we were actually othering her, treating her as different, instead of celebrating all of our heritage.

I just loved this piece. Thank you for giving me something to think about the rest of today!