“You live as long as
you are remembered.”
~ Russian proverb
My mind has "run the gamut" of emotions these past
years. With some (extended) family illnesses, and then with my sister (only
sibling) passing away, it is hard NOT to think of mortality. What struck me
very deeply was that when my sister passed, I became painfully aware that I was
the last one left of my nuclear family (our parents died in 1977 and 1979
respectively); every family story, our very own history, it's only mine to tell
anymore.
There are so many little snippets of my life, some funny,
some sad, that I want to live on even past my own life's run. So, I began to
write "The story of Chelle". This is not a memoir, certainly not one
meant for public consumption, however it's my sincere hope that each one of my
FUTURE family will get to cherish some of these stories and perhaps pass them
along to their descendants. It's mere snippets, little memories, that have
given me moments to chuckle, to remember, to know how many of these memories
have made me who I am today.
It's been said that, just like DNA, all our ancestors live on
inside us. I believe that is so true even when we haven't really known the
folks who passed some traits down to us. Ironically, I met a distant cousin
from a branch of my family I never even knew existed. It all started with a bit
of (excuse me) spit… and the results of my DNA turned up a long list of
potential relatives. Surely, I wasn't going to explore each one, but one
profile popped up that intrigued me.
Turns out this gentleman and I are distant cousins on my
paternal grandmother's side of the family. He connected me with another
relative (unfortunately the DNA services do NOT share with each other so we may
only find relatives through others). My new-found relative, and at this point a
very dear friend, is a second cousin. We are quite close in age, and if you didn't
know differently you might think that we grew up together because we share so
many similar values and traits.
I am not looking for immortality, or maybe in a way I am? I
just want some of my memories to live on for my children. As a writer maybe it
is not unusual for me to take to writing these thoughts and memories down but
considering my ego, I am just recording these memories for my family. When I
recently told my daughter about my project, her loving quip was that I had an
advantage… I could tell everything from MY personal standpoint since there was
no one left to counter. Yep, she's got a point, LOL.
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