Snapshot four -- Gabriel Pullen

I do not know my family heritage on my dad's side at all. Nobody in my family knows, and nobody has really tried to figure it out, either. On my mom's side of the family, however, we have Swedish roots. My grandmother is an immigrant from Sweden. I have known her my whole life, but I have never met any of her family. My mother has told me about how we have family in Sweden, but we also have Swedish family on the west coast. She keeps in touch with all of them on Facebook, but she has never met any of them in person. Well, one day my dad decided he wanted us to take a trip to California, which happens to be where my mom's aunt and cousins live. We made it a priority to stop in San Francisco, where they live, to meet them in person. We ended up going to California in summer of this year. We stopped in Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco, where we met our family. They were all very kind and welcoming to us, as if they had known us for a long time. They made us Mexican food that tasted great. I would rather have that over Taco Bell any day. The style of homes looked like those you would see in mexico as well. They all spoke both English and Spanish in their household, and so did their neighbors. My brothers and I also found out that my mom's cousin is a radio host in the area. He played us a clip of his work, and he sounded just like the guys you hear on the radio. It was an amazing experience to meet such a wonderful family, since I have gone my whole life only knowing my dad's side of the family, it was nice to know I had more.

San Francisco

That trip left me with very good memories, and I think if I were to go anywhere of my choice, I would have to go to Sweden. It may be a frozen wasteland out there, but now I want to go meet the family that I never got the chance to meet.