Identity

As I'm planning my wedding, there are a lot of Celtic themes and traditions I want to incorporate. As I'm doing this, I'm realizing that's the heritage I most identify with. It's weird, it's really not something I'd thought about much before. I'm just as Slovak, Eastern European, as I am a Celt, if not more so because that side of the family got here in the 19-teens, whereas the Celts got here.... maybe before the American Revolutionary war.
It's the culture; it's the history, music, traditions, tales, religion - as a bridge between Christianity and Paganism, it's that my Mamgu (grandmother) reads Gaelic poetry and prayers at family functions.
Anyway, it's an interesting moment, at 28, to suddenly think about your identity. As a white-bread american, I kind of blend in. The first taste I got of recognizing my identity was while I was in New Zealand. There, it was the first time I really saw myself as an American (I know that sounds weird,) but as Americans, we identify ourselves as our heritage: Polish, German, English, Irish, Chinese, African etc. Outside the "walls" of this country, everyone else just sees us as Americans.
We are the children of the world.
In New Zealand, riding on the bus, I could be a fellow countrywoman; until I opened my mouth to say "thank you" to the bus driver with my American accent, instead of "cheers" in a Kiwi accent.