One concept from Cultural Anthropology that I feel relates to my life is the concept of residential patterns among family. Initially my parents broke the norm set by their parents by marrying outside of the Faith. My father is Roman Catholic and my mother is Jewish (an example of exogamy). More interesting, however is the difference in residence patterns on my respective parents side of the family. On my father's side of the family, the trend is to live partilocaly, or near the father's house. Of my Dad's four brothers and sister, none of them live outside of the state of Maryland. In fact, one of my father's brothers lives 5 houses up the street from my Grandparents.
Contrasting this is that on my mother's side of the family no one seems to live near my grandmother or at least by their own choosing. Originally raised near Philly, my Mom moved to Maryland, her brother moved to Alabama, and her sister moved to North Carolina. My Grandmother eventually moved near my Aunt's house but the general trend is completely contrary to what my father's side did.
I am not sure why there are such radical differences. My mother's brother moved to Alabama to be with his (then) wife and my mother's sister moved because her husband's job moved down to NC. I just don't understand how no one on my father's side of the family managed to find employment or opportunity outside of Maryland's borders.
As for myself, I cannot really say where I will end up in life. Will I follow my in my Mom's footsteps and move away
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