I have tíos I never got to know. primos I never got to know. abuelos I never got to know. I have family that is mine, but is not mine. And I can’t dwell on it, or it’ll break me.
Personal Reconnecting Problems #1: I’m 40% indigenous Mexican, which makes up the largest percentage of ancestors I have from one specific area. I’m also 10% Spanish. I expected my genetic breakdown to be something like that, given that my father was a Mexican immigrant from Tlaxcala.
However!! I have no solid legal documentation of this, because my father ran out on me and my mother before I was born. I know absolutely nothing about him.
We’re not even sure that the name he gave my mother is truly his name, because he 1) was an illegal immigrant and 2) once told my mother that for $50 and a case of beer, one of his buddies could hook him up with a new identity.
So where does that leave me?
I have no way to trace my lineage. I have no way to contact my father and get the information I would need to trace my lineage because, despite knowing exactly where he lives, he only speaks Spanish and I only speak English.