Choose an ancestor: what gift(s)
have you received from him or her?
I'd love to hear the thoughts you come up with! Mine below.
I really dwelled on this a while. Part of me thinks back to my israeli roots, and how greatful I am that my family broke free of those traditions. I met some of them at a family reunion (which was actually more like a church service) and the women had to wear wigs and cover their heads, weren't allowed to do anything without permission of their husbands (even going so far as to touch stuff! like their forks, turning on a light switch, etc.) Even though my father was 50% italian, 50%english, and was catholic, she forced him into the multitude of denominations we explored over the years. If the type of church exists, we attended it, and my mom (being a legitimate sociopath-no disrespect, shes diagnosed) got us kicked up of all of them. I wasn't allowed to attend school. The idea was beat into my head that I was to get married and be subserviant to my husband.
What gift did I gain from all this you ask? A will of steel and an unbreakable independence. I left home and went to college (got in without any schooling or even a GED, I just maxed out the scores on the placement test) at 16. Few years later ended up disabled. I now collect social security and am married, but my husband relies on my for a lot. It's give and take. I have never been nor will I ever be subserviant to anyone. And be able to say that without a doubt in my mind is the gift my family has given me.
The other side of my family? Well besides an awesome english heritage consisting of men who literally helped build the USA (my last name is on the constitution and my family has a town named after them!) we're italians that hail from Naples so I have a love of pasta, can curse a blue streak in a foreign language, and have 3 older brother glaring down any man who looks twice at me ^_^
The best (technically the only good, but we wont get into that today) memories of my youth were sunday dinners at Nannas. And Christmas Eve! Oh how wonderful christmas eve was!
Those memories and times weren't just a gift, they were a blessing.
Although part of me worries my old english family burned witches at the stake, I can't help but wonder if perhaps some of them were witches themselves...supposedly they had like 300 descendents in..10? 20? years, something like that lol They were breeding like rabbits, whatever the number is. They were at the very least free masons. Every single male Gilman dating back from the start of America to present day was an army man. Except my in-the-middle brother. He joined the navy. Never been forgiven. o_0
Well, that's all from me. What ancestors did you think of? What gifts have you received? Post in the "Comments"!
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