A couple of weeks ago, I spoke about the importance of my son knowing his heritage. For me growing up, I didn’t know much of my heritage other than the stories that I was told about the previous generations and how they lived. But I wanted to know more, like where our family had come from and what the background is to our culture. Years passed and I eventually stopped thinking about it until I married my husband. My husband is a first-generation Liberian American, and to quite honest, when we first started dating I began to start feeling very out of place when going to his family functions. All of that eventually changed and I learned what a blessing it is to marry into a Liberian family.
Liberian Families CELEBRATE LIFE, YOU, AND THEM
When my husband started to bring me to his family gatherings, I always found it so interesting how they have so many and they celebrate everything as if it’s the biggest thing that has happened that year – which is absolutely amazing. The entire family gets invited to show up and celebrate a birthday, engagement, new baby, or even a graduation. There is tons of dancing, drinking, and a super amount of food. And members of the family get the chance to honor the person or people being celebrated in such unique ways. For our baby shower, my husband had to explain to me how different it is from the traditional baby shower and that our list of guests was going to be a little longer and that the baby shower was going to be more of a party than we expected. And I have to say, I loved every single second of it.
Our Family IN A LIBERIAN FAMILY
Marrying into a Liberian family comes with a deeper sense of family community than I had originally known. We all know the phrase that says “It takes a village to raise a child.” Well, my husband’s family lives by that in a very deep way. When marrying into the family, I become a member of the family that they’ll look out for as if I was always a member of the family. When we see his family, I never feel as if I feel out of place or that there was a time that I wasn’t connected to them in any way. There was a family gathering that we had attended, and one of his family members introduced me to the new concept of “our wife”. It wasn’t in the thought of now I belonged to them, but to the fact that I didn’t just marry my husband and that he’s not the only person that is there for me.
The Style OF A LIBERIAN FAMILY
One thing that I have so deeply fallen in love with is the style of his family. My husband introduced me to so many different prints and styles that his family wears and my mother-in-law has gone so far to get my measurements and has begun ordering clothes for me from back home. I have fallen in love with the prints and the fact that each outfit that you get is customized to you. It’s not like heading into a store and getting something in your size. Instead, you are considered when putting the outfit together, so that it is comfortable and flatters you in the right way. I’ve been adoring mostly the dresses and the two-piece sets and I’ve been working on expanding my wardrobe to be able to include outfits for every celebration – especially since they have so many. And more importantly, I want to also make sure that I’m expanding it enough so that my outfits coordinate with my husband’s and my son’s because, of course, when you show up, you definitely have to show out.
This outfit was ‘Made of Africa’ and gifted to me by Afrikrea.
