My Two Sides

My Two Sides

My father, was born in Pakistan, and moved to America 25 years ago. My Mother grew up in a relatively unknown town in Idaho called Bonners Ferry. She grew up Mennonite, but left the Church. My Dad grew up Muslim, but he also left that religion.

They met in Joplin,Missouri, and got married. Then three years later, they had me. This blog post, is about how I act differently in the company of my different families.

When I travel to Atlanta, every year, I sit inside, and eat Pakistani food, and talk. We talk about a lot of stuff, ranging from religion, (which usually involves heated discussions) to politics. I get given a lot of Pakistani dessert, and get really unhealthy, for the time that I’m there. I really love going to Atlanta, except for one thing. Now that I’m not a little kid anymore, they have started trying to convert me. It gets really awkward, because I am an Atheist, and they are always asking me what I believe.

When I go to Idaho, I run around in the woods with my dog, and hunt deer with my uncle. There is a huge mountain just outside my Grandparents house, and climbing up on one of the old broken down log trucks, the view is breathtaking. When I am not in the woods, I am either reading in the comfie playing with my cousins in the huge back yard, and hope not to get another nail in my foot. they have a lot of rusted nails out there, and it really hurts when you get one stuck in your foot. I love going to Idaho, but I can expect everyone to have heard of me, like I am a legend or something. Random people, that I don’t know will ask me if I am “Laurel’s son”. They assume correctly who I am, because at that moment, I am probably the only non-white person in Bonners Ferry. One time, I was in town with my uncle, and his kids, when I see this kid my age ( I later learned that he was exactly my age), walk by me, and then slowly rotate, and look me up and down. First he looked at my shoes, and when he was looking at my face, his eyes went down again. This went on for nearly a minute, until I was about to ask him what he wanted, but then he turned around and left.

This was the only time where I have experienced any unkindness in Bonners, and other than those weird moments when people who I have never met know me, I enjoy being there immensely.

My two families are very different, and I act differently around them, but I am both of the ways I act.