January 1st is ‘Soup Joumou Day’ (as Kyle and Owen call it) — Haitian Independence Day — and it has become our tradition to make and eat this special soup that day along with Haitians all over the world.
This is what happens when I try to take a posed shot of K & O:
(They hate me when I try to take their photo like this.) So, I just give up and take photos like this instead:
I love my Haitian sons.
Dear Kyle and Owen,
I take these pictures of you, eating soup joumou on January 1st, so that you’ll someday see how hard I tried to do right by you. I am learning the Haitian traditions so that I can teach you them. I want you to know your roots, and honor your ethnicity, and respect yourself as Haitian-born and Haitian through-and-through. That’s not easy for a mom to do when the mom is not Haitian herself. But I do my best to know your roots, to honor you, and to respect you as Haiti’s sons. Just so you know: you love soup joumou at age 9. The pride on your face in these pictures says it all.
Love, your mommy
P.S. Your family loves soup joumou too! Even Dash!
