Life starts all over again when it gets crisp in the fall - F. Scott Fitzgerald

To all my gents and southern belles, it has been while. Life changes and less than sub par events led me to be astray from.. well me. Also, it just takes me a while to sit down and start writing. The thoughts in my head are there, the actual writing part... well, life doesn't slow down enough for that. Luckily for me though, it has finally calmed down. I am beginning to breathe and actually do the things that I have thought of to do. So un-southern of me, *clutches pearls* to be on the move. I mean, why am I bringing the hustle and bustle of New York into the deep south??

But anyhoo, I won't go into the ideals of starting over and anew (though my post title is a really great quote and gives me a since of renewal because I love, love LOVE the fall). I'll simply just start where I left off...

A book I'm reading at the moment, You Can Go Home Again - Monica McGoldrick, talks about family dynamics. We have so many connections within our family generations; patterns, it seems, that we are destined to follow. Acceptable patterns or not, we seem to follow these patterns without fail, unknowingly becoming our parents, or grandparents or aunts that we hoped to either be or not be.

Do you know what pattern you are following? Are you close or distant with your family? Do you even care to figure out? Genealogy seems to be a new trend, or at least, one that people talk about like it's on their resolutions list for the new year yet doesn't budge from its spot. We all want to find out where we came from and for most, it's a sense of figuring out who you are. That was just a small plug for the TLC show Who do you think you are? What I like about this show is that it is just as important for them to figure out the person they are learning about as well as find the path through their family history. How did they end up here? Who were important figures in their lives? What family stories are hidden that relate to the individual searching? Did we truly end up Southern by the grace of God?? (Hallelujer!)

So it is not just a ploy to have some drama on a television show about a famous person's family tree. It really does mean something. It has the potential to shed light on our lives and bring families closer together once they really begin to understand each other. When you finally slow down and find the time, I encourage you, before it's too late, to go searching. It's not going to happen over night, but answers that you seek are there, you just have to ask the right questions, are willing to get down and dirty, and share some tea. I encourage all to do this. I know that especially for African Americans, the road may fall short at some point, though I know that it's worth it. My grandmother began her history years before she past. We have enough information at least to pull pieces together for America, though there is more to discover as our history spans to France and the Canary Islands; and the most fascinating thing is....this is only the surface. There is still so much that needs to be discovered here. This is also only my maternal side. I still have MANY questions to ask on my paternal side.

Journey on people! you may have a new story to tell at the next big family gathering..