We all like to return to our roots
My grandparents and their siblings picking olives in alepoxori during the fall of 1978.
My theo Vageli (uncle Angelo) picking olives in 2003. Not pictured: my mother, his sister, during a visit to fix the house in alepoxori.
My papou (grandfather) preparing the lamb for the spit on Greek Easter. He is with his brothers and other cousins in the village.
On the far left is my mother and in the background are all of my uncles named Vageli, as well as my other uncle Niko. On the far right is my closest cousin, Yani. They are all awaiting the lamb for Greek Easter dinner.
My papou (grandfather) proudly holding his son outside of their home in alepoxori. The child, my mother's brother, now lives in Chicago.
My cousin and I holding up my baby cousin, Athanasia, against the same wall in alepoxori. They moved from Chicago back to Greece to raise her.
My mother's first piece of documentation when she arrived to the United States of America. Before this, she hadn't even had a birth certificate.
My first passport for my first trip out of the United States. I was five years old and was going to Greece with my parents.
Knowing my uncle Angelo, he was very excited to replicate this image. But did he actually pick the olives during that visit, or was it all for the sake of a cute photograph? I know he loves our Greek heritage (I mean he lives and breathes it), but is there some element to him doing this that is kind of silly? Fake even?
I personally love these two images next to each other because my mother is the only woman in the forefront of either picture. She is a strong leader and that is a characteristic that I think she developed as an immigrant. Although she jokes about being a "strong Spartan," I wonder if her headstrong manner is due to the forced assimilation of Greek and American culture and not just something she was born with.
Was my papou just proud to finally have a son? Because there is no picture of him holding my mother up this way. Does it speak to the time period or the cultures? Or both?
Aside from the fact that my mother and I share numerous characteristics, we also share our American citizenship. She had to test into it and I was born into it. I can get dual citizenship if I were to pursue it as well, but would that make me a true citizen of Greece? My mother has experienced both countries as a citizen, but still feels like a stranger in the one we live in now. That's something I will never understand.