Hello there! My name is Anna, and I am a half Caucasian, half second generation Korean-American girl.

My apologies as I collect my thoughts a little here - eager for this question as my heart is and though this is certainly not the first time I’ve heard it, I haven’t ever developed a scripted way to reply. The truth is that even after a lifetime up to this point of telling others, I’ve never grown numb to the rush my heart feels, bursting at the chance to explain the very core of who I am to someone new. There are so many things I could tell you, oh person who asked, that my brain hasn’t settled on just one, and if you stay here long enough, you’ll probably hear a lot more than that for which you bargained.

I guess the best place to begin would be to explain the halves, huh? My light-haired, green-eyed mother is a brilliant, beautiful, bold woman whose family comes from all over Europe. My dark-haired, brown-eyed father is a passionate, proficient, powerful man whose parents came to America from Korea before he was born. Since long before I can remember, these two incredible people have instilled in me everything that I am, from a past rich with memories and culture to a present founded on values and love. If I could grow up to be half the person that either of my parents are, I would consider my life to have been well-lived.

But who am I?

There is something important that every member of my family has helped me to realize. Something that has truly changed the way I view my life and my history. I am not made up of bits and pieces of the cultures behind my existence. I am not spliced together from certain parts of one, other parts of another, only half belonging to either. I am both of my cultures, every single part of each. My identity, my life, my existence is made of the lessons and traditions and morals each has taught to me. Two boundless histories serve as guides for my future, shaping my present as I learn more, live more.

I love my heritage. I love that family gatherings are overflowing with Korean cuisine and Southern comfort food, with many generations of conversations and stories filling one room, with four kids, myself and my siblings, that represent a collision of worlds. I love that my parents are Mom and Dad, that my older brother is Oppa (오빠) and that to my younger sisters I am Unee (언니), that my grandparents are Grammy, Papa, Halmoni (할머니), and Harabogi (할아버지). I love learning Korean in college and wish I had learned it so much sooner. I love my family, all that it represents, all that it has given to me.

Because of the grace of God, my heritage is a symbol of love that transcends bounds of race, of time, of place, of difference. In my identity shines the love that my parents and their families had for one another, their willingness to learn from one another and share with each other what they had and what they knew. I have been raised in that love, and I hope with all my heart that I can raise my family in the same way.

I am so proud to be a part of my family and its vibrant, beautiful cultures. I hope with all my heart that I can make them proud in return.