I am so proud of my twelve-year-old niece Ashlyn. She is full of life, inquisitive about the world, a bookworm like I am, and very open-minded. She loves to learn new things, even languages, worries about the planet, loves animals, and is an advocate for animal rights. Like me, two of her favorite things to do are going to a used bookstore to see what gems might be found amongst all the dusty shelves and getting something to drink at Starbucks.

Most of all though, I am proud of her for being half-Vietnamese. Unfortunately, she has never seen her father before. His family is straight over from Vietnam and has very strict family values, and so when my sister got pregnant with Ashlyn, Triet ended up breaking up with my sister to avoid being disowned by his own family. I am not sure whether they are still clueless about having a beautiful grand-daughter, but I don't see how they couldn't know when we saw them at the mall some time after Ashlyn was born. Obviously, Ashlyn has questions about her father but she goes on with her life, being happy and not concentrating on it. I admire her for being strong and not letting that get her down.

Ashlyn's multiracial heritage has impacted my family in so many good ways. My father grew up in the north but his father was very racist. Likewise, my mother was born and raised in the south where a lot of people are racist. At first, they were shocked but now they don't even care. They have been able to transcend their upbringing and to look beyond outward appearances so they can shower a beautiful grandchild with so much love and spoil her rotten. I wish that Ashlyn's other grandparents could have also had the same opportunity and maybe had gone down the same road of personal development. It is quite a shame that she missed out on learning the Vietnamese language too due to this.

Some photos of my niece: http://italkilessons.tumblr.com/post/85543327976/my-niece-ashlyn