Who's Your Mama? Who's Your Daddy?

Originally uploaded by Blue Dragonfly Girl

So, I'm reading all the requirements for the Brazilian student ID card and I laugh and say to A., "Huh, a document that shows the name of my parents. Well, I certainly don't have that with me."

She looked up, surprised. "What do you mean, you don't have that?"

"Well," I said, "I mean, I didn't think I'd need to bring my birth certificate with me to Brazil."

"You don't have their names on any other document?"

"Um, no."

"C'mon, didn't you need their names when you got your driver's license?"

"Nope."

"Well, their names will be on your passport then. At least, that."

"Nope, my parents' names are definitely not on my passport."

A. sighed. "Such individualism in the US. It's like immediately you forget that you came from somewhere and you act as though you're not connected to anyone. Like you were born all on your own. Sometimes, I think the independence is good, but at other times I wonder."

Funny these cultural differences that I take for granted, such as (n)ever needing to provide documentation of my parents' names. They seem like small details, but clearly they can represent something much larger too.