I wish that you would tell us more about your family gathering. It's fascinating if only because your family is unusually large and and still interested in getting together even though they must be spread over continents and cultures. How, for example, did the home-folk accept your son who is culturally more English, French and Latvian than Estonian? There is an interesting story here that reaches right into the core of individual identity. I wish that you would share it with us.

good story, keep 'em coming.

Thanks for the comments people. I feel that I am unable to write candidly about my perception of individual identity without touching on sensitive topics that seem to have resulted in a situation that can only be sumarized as "the war of the monuments" among many Estonians, particularly the elderly.
It may be some time before heated passions aroused by this controversial topic die down.
It is my view that there is already too much alienation between "välis" and "kodu", intergenerational rifts and plain misunderstanding over language as it is.
Those of you interested in my son's perspective can visit his web site at www.martinbush.com
We were the only "foreigners" at the reunion but we were treated as family.