My intention this year was to be more consistent with this blog. To be honest, I am not sure how these big bloggers do it with a full household of chores, children and all around family activities. I have been lost in the sauce of working full time, being a wife and raising babies. Add on this pandemic and the stress level is super high!
There is one thing that has caught my attention……and time.
Recently, I have been doing a deep dive into my genealogy of both mother and father. I wish to be able to teach my children not only financial literacy, but also their family history. Although I am only in the beginning stages, I have found so much information going back 6 generations on my father’s side and 8 generations on my mother’s side. That’s 3 whole centuries! Uncovering information I never knew keeps giving me the push to move forward when I come to a dead end.
So far, I have garnered a new sense of identity. I have traditions and culture from which my family has been removed due to capitalistic colonialism. My eyes have been open to how truly diverse my background is as well as how colonial classifications have changed over the years. Understanding more of what may have given my ancestors reason to make decisions they did has provided me with more resiliency to get through a rough season. I have been able to connect with my mother’s tribe in South Carolina, which in turns means my children will have that tribal connection.
Our health decisions have had an effect as well. Having a record of what our ancestors may have passed away from allows us a background for reasons to test for different ailments at an earlier stage. I have found that heart disease is common, so that is something I need to keep an eye on.
My ultimate hope is for Char and Luka to become aware not only of their own history, but become more compassionate through their understanding of their varying backgrounds. When I uncover documents that corroborate the oral histories passed down, it gives me an adrenaline rush. The whole process fills me with varying emotions depending on which side of the family I am researching. The realities of slavery, settler colonialism, community, land ownership, residential schools, immigration etc. gives me a roller coaster of emotions. All equally important in understanding who I am.