alternative futures: my first migration – decade two (part 2)

note: this is part 2 of a draft for a piece i’ll eventually submit to the alternative futures project. part 1 is over here.

the stone foundation that my parents and extended family had hewn before my birth was in the same spot they put it on the day i was born. when i turned ten, i began the process of moving out of the family’s house main house. this first mini-migration was practice but it was more joyful than sad. different than this time.

as i played with friends during those years, i watched and learned our parents collect materials from the land and make repairs to their homes. that’s how i learned which materials to use on my foundation and build my first house.

i also watched other young people leave when they turned 20. i watched the ritual of going through all your possessions, saying goodbye to things not needed in the next phase of life (or things too heavy to carry), and packing up only the most essential objects. i watched with more intensity the older i got. i saw the emotional journey so well that i had it down to a science.

and yet, when it was my turn, the tears still snuck up on me.

i took the wooden rods and cow hide that i’d use as a covering during my travel and used them to cover up on my possessions which i had placed at the center of my foundation. i’d been working on the hide for the last few months and it was as good as i was going to get it for my trip. as i covered up my belongs, for some reason, that’s when the tears began to well up.

the next thing i had to do was ask my friends for help digging out the foundation and putting the wheels onto the axles my family inserted before they put the thing into the ground. as they came over with shovels and long faces, i lost it. they held me from my sides as i sat and wept and the earth held me from below.

but i knew we had work to do and my family was waiting in the main house to say goodbye as well.