ADOPT CULTURE INTO YOUR WORLD

Adopt culture into your world. There was this emptiness I felt within me for so many years, wondering where I belonged in this world, Where my connections laid, what was for me, knowing there were things, but at the same time not knowing what they were. I remember the few times feeling at home when I walked onto a marae, yet not being brought up knowing that part of me. Feeling at home when lots of people were around, eating, laughing, talking and enjoying the sound of music playing. Knowing my family came out from Croatia, but yet again, the language was never past down...but there are traits that are just in us. And then one day I realised, it doesn't matter if it's yours from birth or if you adopt it into your world just as babies have been adopted into many cultures. If you have a connection, if it feels at home for you, that's enough to allow yourself to adopt it and let it be apart of you. Just as a holiday to Bali stole my heart the moment I stepped foot on their land, It was an interesting and at times challenging trip for certain reasons, but I felt myself more than I had ever done so before. There was an instant connection to this place, to the people. I can't for the day to visit again. And although my family & I don't speak Croatian, being called 'Baba' felt more right to me than being called 'Nana' Stepping into dancing has allowed me to see and experience parts of the Latin American culture, people who know how to have fun, who even though I can't understand their language, I could listen to all day. Who know how to express themselves and who many of them have this calmness about them that's nice to absorb. Or simply creating and bringing my own culture & traditions into our home. Finding things that just sit so right for me I now allow in. We live in a world, and we get to explore this world. We get to choose our home in this world, We get to choose the language/s we wish to speak, We get to choose what the culture in our homes look and feel like. Culture brings more meaning, more depth and more connection into your family, into your world.