Monthly Archives: September 2014

Where I Come From…

Yesterday, I read an article about how “researchers at Emory did a study showing how kids who know their family history have a greater belief that they could control their world and a higher degree of self-confidence. It was the number one predictor of a child’s emotional well-being.” My initial thought was that my daughter would be the one who would remember family history. Boy was I wrong!

Her fiance has traced his ancestors back to Thomas Jefferson. Then my daughter said she didn’t even know anything beyond her grandparents. What!?

So today, assuming that my son had ignored me all the time we’ve ever talked about family, I asked him the same question and WHOA! He knew more than me. He’s apparently done some research on my husband’s family…he knew his grandparent’s names and how many children and where they originated from (England) and that they were Quakers who left England because of persecution. I didn’t know that!

I think I’ll get him a membership to ancestry.com.

I’m fascinated by that kind of stuff. Little vingettes of life. History. So maybe it’s a hobby we can share together. And maybe someday, we’ll figure out if we have more than just English ancestry. (My daughter would like to be Irish and could probably pass for an Irish lass. But that’s another story for later.)

What about you? Where did you come from? Any skeletons in your ancestrial closets? Crazy Aunt Marthas?

Sushi and Philosphy

Had lunch with my son. He loves sushi…Fred calls that “bait”.

My son is 6’6″ with this wild red hair and beard. He’s smarter than snot….And he’s not sure what he wants.

For years, all during high school, he planned to go into the Air Force..but then… he didn’t. Now he tends bar and works sometimes as a bouncer. I think he’d really like to travel and I think he should. Now is the time. He’s single, 21, unattached. I know I’d worry. But I worry about him now, so not sure what the difference would be. Maybe harder to get to him if he needed me, but that doesn’t seem like a good enough reason for him not to go. Hate letting fear get in the way. Especially my fear…in his way.

When I was about his age, I dreamed of driving a Chevy truck across the US and working my way at whatever job I could find. I figured I could waitress almost any where (I’ve never been a waitress, but I could have)…and I didn’t think money would be a big deal. Money isn’t such a big deal at 21.

I kind of regret that I didn’t do that. Robert Frost poemed,
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

And I understand that….2 choices. And I wouldn’t give up the place, or I guess more – the people – I’m with now. But it’s hard not to wonder, what if I’d taken that “other” path? Where would it have led?

I don’t know where he’s going to be in a few years. I hope it’s some place that he’s happy being. I hope he knows that wherever he is, he’s loved. That’s the thing I want him to know..today and tomorrow.

What road did you choose? Was it the one less traveled? And did it make “all the difference”?