Missing my family

As I recently watched Modern Family, I noticed that Hispanics are stereotyped to be people who have intense family values as well as moral values in everything they apply to life. Being from Venezuela has definitely sunk deep into my blood some of those values and, ever since I moved to the United States, I feel that it's those values that have kept our family together and has allowed us to succeed. Maybe that is why we need those values and why people in the United States recognize us so well for them. Because here we accentuate those values and  sometimes exaggerate them to keep us safe from harm and to help us succeed together. 

Plaza Bolívar, Caracas, Venezuela 1940

I also come from a large Portuguese family on my paternal side of the family. My grandparents immigrated to Venezuela in the 1940's when my city was looked upon as a big boiling pot of opportunity and people ranging from France, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Portugal were fleeting their countries' wars and investing their talents in Venezuela. This side of my family also has an overwhelming amount of values and traditions where family is the most dominant factor and being together is seen as a sacred ritual that must be committed to. Holidays never go without getting together as a family, and if one of the family members has an issue, all of the others immediately jump in and provide their support if they are able to. 

So there is a common factor: IMMIGRATION.

Maybe it's custom and tradition but maybe these values are accentuated by immigration and the fact that we must all hold together in order to understand the new territory we are trying to survive in. 

These values have helped me to look at family dearly and close to my heart. I don't know where I would be without them. At the same time, however, it also makes me scared for the future because... what will I do when they are not there anymore to provide me with their support and their guidance?

So maybe these values are good...but they also make you very dependent on your family for comfort and self-assurance.

My favorite Portuguese grandmother :]
(It was too hard to find a picture with all of my Portuguese family together)

My Venezuelan family in the U.S. :]