Who's Sitting In That Tree?

Erstwhile Echoes

Genealogy Matters

Storyteller Tuesday Challenge: ERSTWHILE ECHOES

A trait or passion that appears again and again in your family tree. A pattern, like teachers across generations, musicians in every branch, stubborn personality traits, or a thread of humor passed down like an heirloom. Explore those echoes.

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Do toes count?

{In March, I posted a story with what I thought was a clever title. (You can read it by clicking 🔗 “Wearing Your Favorite Genes.”) This was right before publishing my 🔗 memoir when the thought of talking about traits & inheritance caused me to break out in hives. In that piece, I chose to emphasize the favorite genes that I was confident were passed down from an ancestor I knew.}

I was just dipping my toe in the pool of acceptance. I’ve never been one to jump right into cold water. Slow & easy.

Speaking of toes, my whole life, family members commented on how my feet were shaped just like my dad’s, complete with the tendency to turn outward while walking.

We had the same skin tone too, and my eyes are a mix of his green and my mom’s blue.

I always found myself making witty one-liners like my dad too.

A smile shone every time someone noticed & commented how like him I was.

These are the genes I was always happy to wear.

Echoes from the past that breezed by every so often, grounding me in who I was.

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Fast-forward to that dividing line between before and after.

I changed out of my old clothes and jumped into the deep end of a gene pool in an area completely foreign to me. I didn’t recognize all these other swimmers from way back in my family line.

I tentatively began investigating distant ancestors (that seemed a little easier than looking at the ones close to home).

I found a relative who was an artist & a photographer. I’m no artist, but I do have an eye for photography. My daughter too. And both my daughters & I hold a deep appreciation of art.

I found a relative who was an intelligent engineer. I always had a great fear of and lack of confidence in math. But this same ancestor was also gregarious, kind & compassionate. Hmm, maybe some of those traits were passed down to me.

I learned of one of the grands I never knew who lived to be a hundred and two. I obtained a photograph of this ancestor and showed it to a good friend. She said, “Weirdly, you look like her.”

Echoes from the past

It is weird to look like someone from a different time & place. Especially since I didn’t even know our branches were in the same tree. And what she passed to me, other than her looks, I do not know.

I’m not sure what led me to pursue education and become a teacher. A lover of literature.

I wonder if the full leaves on some of those branches higher up are teachers or writers. I wouldn’t be surprised, for the interest budded in me early on.

I do know I got a touch of stubbornness from my mom’s side. Her tenacious spirit lives on in me, that’s for sure. I even hear her voice in my own.

As for my dad’s calm wit & sense of humor . . . he nurtured that in me, so I caught it and am holding fast to it.

I’m going to keep pretending I got my dad’s toes, though, because everyone says so.

Sharing this publication might help others find stories that lead them out of the deep waters to solid ground. That’s always my hope for my writing.