As I continue working and living in New York, it has become harder to see my family. Like I wrote before, I feel caught between wanting to spend as much time with them as I can and wanting to focus on my own growth and self-discovery. At this point in my life, it feels like I can only choose one at a time. I am 23 and trying to figure things out, but this story is not about me.

Growing up, my mom brought the cultural side to our family. She is half Chinese and grew up in Jamaica, Peru, and across the United States, raised by a Chinese-Jamaican mother and a Polish-American father. My dad, on the other hand, grew up in Indiana without a real understanding of his background or where his family story began. As he got older, he became more interested in that part of himself, and eventually it led to a trip to the place his roots were tied to: Scotland.

On the ides of September 2025, I joined my parents, uncle, and cousin on a trip there. My cousin had just started her freshman year at the University of St Andrews, about an hour outside Edinburgh, so the timing was perfect.

I met them in Edinburgh after stopping in Paris for the weekend to see old friends. We walked everywhere, through rain and rare bursts of sunshine, doing our best to take in as much of the city as possible. After a couple of days, we rented a car and started our drive into the heart of Scotland. For the next week, we spent more than five hours a day on the road, stopping in small towns and lookout points whenever we could.

Scotland is beautiful. Lush green fields. Rolling hills. Sharp mountains. Hearty meals and strong pints.

We made our way north to Glencoe, then to Portree on the Isle of Skye, before heading back down through Inverness and ending our trip in St Andrews.

I hope this video serves as a memory for my dad and our family. I loved watching him dive into the history, collect souvenirs with our last name, and experience his own kind of self-discovery. I could feel in the moment that this was becoming a core memory for all of us. I hope this video helps keep it alive.