One

For any vacation, it is necessary to pack the essentials of travel: tickets, passport, ID, money, clothes, toiletries, and miscellaneous things such as a clock and Pepto.

Since I’m travelling alone this time around, I bring with me a few photographs to remind me of home. They’re all of my family.

But, there is one photo that stands out from the rest. It’s a photo of my niece.

In all realities, there is nothing special about the photo. It doesn’t resemble a soft-focus, b&w shot by Bruce Weber, suitable for a Ralph Lauren campaign.

It’s a full-on shot of my niece’s face. She’s wearing a small hat that droops over one side of her head, a little t-shirt and a cardigan. She isn’t smiling, but looking at the camera with no particular expression that can be interpreted as anything.

What is special about the photo is the meaning behind it.

She doesn’t realize the impact she has on others. She’s not just a little girl. She’s a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a cousin, and more. She connects two families and their histories, and brings them into the future. And she’s unaware of the impact she has and the power that lies just beyond her world.

She’s one and everything.

Seconds before I fall asleep and turn off the bedside light, I look at her face. I can hear her giggling when I touch her button nose with my finger. And at that moment, she takes me back home.