Who Am I?

This was a very sobering lesson today at church. It's not the typical question of 'who am I' and 'where did I come from' that we usually refer to. It was more about heritage. I always feel a little bent out of shape that I have no pioneer heritage. No inspirational stories of trekking ancestors. No historic relatives. I always hate these types of lessons. The only thing that gets me through them is convincing myself that I am a pioneer story. I'm someone else's pioneer heritage years down the road. I'm the only member in my family. In 150 years, will my posterity read about my life and think about me as the first pioneer in their lineage? That's what I'm hoping for. Now, I don't want to give the impression that I don't love my family or ancestors...I do. I just don't have much by way of stories and experiences. The thought of gathering them from my Grandma and other relatives seems daunting. But I have a longing to know about my long ago family.

A sister in church today made mention that she feels like physically we are bound to our heritage in ways we may not realize. I thought she was sounding a little goofy at first. She gave the example of her ancestors being Irish and when she hears the bagpipes or the RiverDance group, she feels such a sense of pride and connection it sometimes brings her to tears. I started thinking about that and wondered about my weird draw to farm life. Don't get me wrong, I don't actually want to do any of that work, but the lifestyle is very appealing to me. I find comfort in songs about the basic life of country folk and in the idea of living off the land. For a very long time back, all my family were midwesterners generation after generation. I didn't grow up on a farm, my parents didn't farm, I'm pretty sure my grandparents did actually farm, but I'm sure past that, that's what my family did. Is that why I'm fascinated by that lifestyle and feel myself drawn to it? Could what she said be true......that we watched and related to our ancestors before we even came to earth? All good questions. I wish I knew more. I wish I had pictures and stories and experiences to draw from. I don't, but my posterity will. They are going to read about their crazy Grandma Laurie who couldn't stop canning for a month! I'm excited to go back and spend time with my family in a few weeks. Maybe I can glean some info while there.