The nut don't fall far from the tree...

I know, you missed me. I have been sucked into my new addiction...Ancestry.com. (Although, in the case of my family, that 'A' could be an 'I'!) A friend introduced me to the wonders of researching my family tree, and I have spent countless hours tracing all the Clines, etc. back to our mother country. I should have known it would be a time sucker when my friend, who I'll call the big DM, traveled out of state to follow his roots!

I did NOT even want to sleep last night, I was on roll! In the afternoon, I found the place in time where one of my dad's relatives ran off with one of my mom's. For real! That really got me thinking about how we are ALL related. I don't mean in the biblical story 'related'. I mean, most of us whose families immigrated here to the New World and settled on the east coast. My maternal and fraternal ancestors all stayed in North Carolina and seemed to have a small pool of suitors to pick from. Like I said, fascinating stuff.

I highly recommend tracing your roots. I believe all the folks that came before helped shape us into who we are. I've said before, when I was young (and foolish), I thought we were all blank slates, written after our birth. I now ascribe to a different theory. I believe our personalities are partly formed by our genetics, by all the people that came before and made it possible for our unique selves to be here. Doesn't it make sense to know a bit about them?

I remember, years ago, thinking of Christianity as separate from Jewish beliefs. And, we could say, way separate from the beliefs of Islam. As I had the opportunity to learn about the Old Testament and the greats whose stories fill its pages, I gained an appreciation for my Judeo-Christian tradition and Jesus' own Jewish heritage. As I've grown to know Muslim friends, I appreciate our common father, Abraham. We all have more in common than different.

I've been serious enough for one day, so I won't go into my "we are all immigrants" speech right now. Plus, I really got to get back to Ancestry.com....