Thanksgiving is fast approaching and so I give thought to things I am thankful for. Let get the important but standard ones on the table first. If course there is family. I am talking about my parents, husband, kids and sisters. However, I want to go much further than that. I am talking about my cousins whom we grew up with like siblings. Their friendship helped shape my childhood. My grandparents who helped define my heritage and the way I celebrate things. My grandparents for generations past who had no idea that the choices they made would impact me. If my distant grandparents on my dad's side had not fled Mexico then eventually my parents would not have met and had.....me. If my grandmother on my mother's side had chosen to stay in Ireland when her husband died suddenly right before immigrating, again, my parents would not have met and had...me. You see the pattern here? I am grateful for generations of grandparents who loved me even though they did not know me here on earth. I know that I am the link in my descendents lines and I don't know them yet. However, I hope some of the choices I make now will effect them in a positive way years down the road. I mean, shoot, if we would not have moved back to Carson City, Eric would not be a Crounk and neither would his siblings be on their way to becoming (legally) Crounks.
I remember Deborah gave a talk in church one time about her ancestors. I remember listening to it and thinking how much I liked it. I could not tell you right now what the whole talk consisted of but there is one part that impacted me greatly. She said when she looked in the mirror she would wonder where she got her features. Which grandparent (and how far back) did she get her eyebrows from, or the color of her eyes or the shape of her lips or nose. She could look at her parents or grandparents and pretty much figure it out, but her parents and grandparents had to get them from someone too. And then she thanked them because if it weren't for them, she would not look like and be the person she was now (or then). Mind you that was not verbatim but I am sure you got the idea. I did.
So yes, I am thankful for family. I am thankful that all those names on my family tree were actual people who did the best they could and I hope that they are proud of me as their granddaughter no matter how many generations back they go.
2 comments:
Sometimes I forget that our ancestors are actual people, rather then old pictures and stories. That they felt and learned and lived through things just like us.
Its fun to remember them that way, even if we didn't know them in person.
I don't remember giving that talk. I vaguely remember, but not in as much detail as you do.
That's one thing that I had to go through when adopting. First we literally had to mourn the loss of having a baby who would have mom's nose and dad's eyes, etc. At first I thought, "Oh, that's no big deal." But after Seth was born I found it was/is a big deal. It's one of those things I'll always struggle with, but it's just a part of who Seth is.
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