Remembering your ancestors

This morning I woke up remembering someone who meant the world to me growing up. My grandma Anna Mae raised me when I was little. She was a wonderful woman, who treated me better than anyone I've ever met. She was my world till I was 15. At my house I have pictures of the dead that meant the world to me. Dead but never forgotten. This is one way for me to share them with my family who have not met them before. I'm big on story telling in our house. My husband sometimes tells me you've told me that story a million times. But I feel that sometimes it needs to be repeated. Just so that I can remember them the way they were. Memories are all that we have after our loved ones are gone.

So what other ways are there for remember those long gone. In our house we have a picture area with my family tree of part of my family. I'm working on the other part now but it takes time when you have common names. In ritual we have a place for the ancestors in our circle. This is how we honor those who've come before us and those who come after us. We teach our children that history is doomed to repeat itself unless you understand the lives of the people from our past.

Even understanding the country where your relatives come from for me is very important. In a way it is still apart of who you are. You can find those old pictures of your relatives and say hey that looks just like me, or I don't take after that side of the family. For me, I can see my irish/german ancestry in the mirror everyday. So don't be afraid to look to the past to see who you really are. Sometimes it tells you more than you may want to know.