So in Irene's family lore, Taiwan is an important transition place. An inflection between the past in China and the future in America. Certainly a few relative were born in Taiwan, but for the most part most of the older folks were born in China and most of the younger folks were born in America. So Taiwan is, like, 0.75 of a generation? How do you quantify these things? You don't I suppose, so I should stop trying.
Our trip this past summer may well be the last for many of us. Irene and I have no plans to return (she has been many times, I have been twice). Who knows what allure it will have for the kids when they are older? As part of that decision, the older generation decided to bring the family patriarch's remains over to the United States (his wife is buried here in the Boston area). As you will see below, his grave is a formal and ornate place in Taiwan and thus it was a big deal to exhume his remains for cremation. The four of us were honored to represent the family so that my children's great-grandfather had a son, a granddaughter, and two great-grandchildren (plus this token white guy) all watching over the careful and respectful exhumation process shown below.
A few weeks later we had a half Christian half traditional ceremony for the interment of his ashes here in the Boston area with most of his children attending as well as half a dozen grandchildren and a handful of great-grandchildren. The half-traditional/half Christian nature of the ceremony here nicely reflecting the half-in half-out nature of the entire of the lives of all our immigrant relatives. Two powerful events that speak volumes about immigration and tradition and family.
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