This is my mother's wedding ring. It is made out of gold and stones. My parents had married in 2001 in Pakistan. While it doesn't have much significance to me, it does to my mother. To her, the ring gets older each year, just like her marriage. My mother didn't really bring a lot of things when immigrating to America. In fact, immigrating to America wasn't even her idea. It was my father's. But my mother of course, just like anyone, wanted to experience the American dream too. All she really brought was the ring, other pieces of jewelry, and clothes. No pictures or anything. She was starting a brand new life with my father after all. To this day, my mother no longer has some of the clothes and jewelry that she had originally brought to America. There were even times when she had to sell some of her jewelry to provide for my family a few years ago, but she would never consider the wedding ring. Thankfully we are nowhere near that state of desperation anymore. While she has spent more time with the ring here in America, I think that she feels like the ring is more at home when she is at Pakistan.

– Shahir

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant