The Second-Generation Immigrant Ache to Travel to the Homeland of Our Parents

<p>I inhabit a region that meets the same Atlantic Ocean that cradles the island of Barbados on its eastern shores. The 2,000-mile distance and change in geography turns the clear beaches and sunny skies to gritty waters and nor&rsquo;easters. I&rsquo;m on an eastern coast with land that goes on forever toward the west, unlike the Caribbean Sea that would stop me on the western shores in Barbados if I traveled too far.</p> <p>A cloth material has hung from the wall in the kitchen of my family&rsquo;s home since I was a little girl. Anchored by a string looped into its border like a scroll, the bright painted image of Barbados is centered in the fabric with the words, &ldquo;Island in the Sun&rdquo; written beside it. An everyday reminder of my father&rsquo;s homeland. His daily reminder of the land he left behind. A place we both feel destined to be displayed on a decorative piece that we have walked by thousands of times.</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@ebonygill/the-second-generation-immigrant-ache-to-travel-to-the-homeland-of-our-parents-597570f8f5b1"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>