Thippi, Wisconsin

1985. The year we became American Citizens. We were given two American flags that had been flown over the United States Capitol - one for my Dad and Mom. We flew it on our front porch during 4th of July. When I was in high school, it got stolen by a bunch of college students, we knew this because we walked around the neighborhood looking for it and there it was, hanging on one of the campus houses. It made me so angry and I wanted so badly to go get our flag back, but my parents didn't want to confront and make a scene. To this day, I'm still a little pissed off, that flag represented so much to our family. My parents sacrificed so much to bring us to America, they did the best they could for us and STILL do. I now have the second flag, it has been with me for a while, still in it's original box, with a certified piece of paper that said it was flown for us.

I took it out today and felt it, looked at it and sat with it, hoping in some way it would give me some comfort and guidance. I don't really know how to honor a beautiful flag like this, so for now, I'll put it back in it's box until the next time I need to remember that America was a country that opened up it's doors to refugees like me.