Darphynia's Diary

To my parental units: I know that things didn't always come easy.  You both were brought up in very different households.  Mom, your parents experienced The Great Depression and didn't have a lot of money until you and two of your siblings were grown and gone.  Dad, your parents had to suffer through the interment camps, and despite your brother being born in one, everyone made it out.  They were release with what they could carry, and had to start completely over.  They (my grandparents) sacrificed so much to make sure there was food on the table.  Fast forward a couple of decades and you two are married.  Then, after some time, I was born.  Unlike my younger brother, I was born early...three months early.  I wasn't expected to make it, but somehow I did.  You and dad sacrificed so much time, making the nearly two-hour drive to see me every day after work.  Grandma and Grandpa went sometimes, but I don't know that Baachan and ...

Image courtesy of pinterest Okay, I know the term "hapa" was not originally meant to be a positive term, but it honestly doesn't bother me.  I never thought that growing up as half Japanese and half White would be a plus until I was older.  Growing up I was surrounded by kids who were "whole".  They were White, Black, Hispanic, you name it, but very rarely did I encounter anyone who was mixed.  As a child, I remember being asked, "What are you?" and being told, "You're weird."  That had a profound affect on how I identified, and did a number on my self-esteem.  I was never a "whole" anything, and I so desperately wanted to be like everyone else.  My bestest-best friend is also mixed, but she moved away when we were still in grade school.  It also didn't help that my White side was far less accepting of my being mixed than my Japanese side (I've always felt more connected to them)...not all of my White relatives, b...