Thursday, March 25, 2010

Crazy day, and family musings...

I started the day off at the dentist. That's never the way you want to start a day, no? Just a routine cleaning, but I find "going to the dentist" right up there on my list of "things I'd like to put off as long as possible."

And, to top it off, on my way there, I experienced a problem that is notorious in all cold winter weather climates - the spring/summer road construction season. UGH. It's a limited window of weather that is warm enough to accommodate such work, and thus it begins in earnest near April and goes non-stop until October, when we're all weary from detours and beaten into single lane submission. Not pleasant. As well, when I reached for my planner - where I have my dentist's phone number written down, since I feared I may be late - I realized, for at least the 4th time since yesterday late afternoon, that I left my planner at work and that such an action is a huge mistake. Sigh.

But it went fine, and my pulled wisdom tooth seems to have healed nicely. I then drove into work (on a different route) while I called my sister Shauna'h on my cell phone and insisted that she talk to and entertain me until I arrived on campus. I get lonely in the car; it brightened my day :)

While I was talking to her, I asked her about something that has been occupying my mind recently: our family geneaology. My paternal grandmother passed away just last summer; my dad's father passed away about about 13 years ago. I've been thinking about them both a lot lately. My grandfather was a Native American, a Six Nations Mohawk. Given my recent interest in crafts, I was thinking back to when I was a little girl. I remember my mom taking me once to a friend of my dad's family who introduced me to Native beading art with a loom. I loved it. I always wish that I had followed up on that. Maybe I still will, 30 years later.

My grandmother, I wasn't as sure on her lineage, so this is what I was asking Shauna'h about. I always recall her background being described as Pennsylvania German, or Pennsylvania Dutch. I'm suddenly very intrigued by this - could this explain my obsession with Amish fiction? :) I'm going to see my dad this weekend, and I'm going to ask him about it. It's entirely possible that her family was Anabaptist at some point. Both of my paternal grandparents were converts to Catholicism from a variety of mainline Protestant denominations. (Side anecdote - a number of my dad's relatives, including him and my grandparents, converted to Catholicism via a parish near us that was located on the Tuscarora Reservation - the only such parish on a Native American reservation in the entire state. My dad and grandfather both chose Bl. Kateri Tekakwitha as their patron at confirmation).

A year after my first Amish fiction post, I remain quite entranced with the Amish. And not in some "isn't it so quaint?!" kind of way. In a genuine admiration of their faith and way of life. I'm not looking to convert, granted :), as I don't agree with some of their beliefs about the sin of pride. But overall, I see them as shining beacons of Christian faith and living, and I would be honored to have that as part of my lineage.

Not to be forgotten, my mom's wonderful family is 100% Italian. My mom is only two generations removed from their original journey to America. They were all originally Catholic, as was most of the population of this area at that time. Today, my immediate family are the only Catholics left, although my other relatives are still very devoted Christians, just of the non-Catholic variety. It's all very interesting, from the perspective of a religious person. I feel very lucky to have the family that I do - lots of love and support, all based on faith in our God. It's good stuff.

1 comment:

  1. Keep us posted on this one. My hunch has always been that they were Pennsylvanians. And Dutch. But not Pennsylvania Dutch, if you know what I mean.

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