My dad was an immigrant from Afghanistan. He had been a member of the “freedom fighters” when the Soviets invaded, and after the collapse, he made a home for himself in Seattle. He became a glassblower and traveled back to Afghanistan as a translator with the coalition forces after 9/11. My mom grew up in Central Washington. She was the daughter of migrant farmers from Mexico. She moved to Seattle in her early 20’s and worked in childcare and then housekeeping and is now a part of the janitorial staff at the University of Washington. They met and eventually married here in Seattle and stayed, raising my two younger siblings and me.