Random Ramblings

Things I have learnt in the past couple days:

( quite a bit )

Huh...

So, I was asking about ancestry stuff - because I was trying to figure out exactly how much of me was Irish, lol. And though a lot of the records are, umm, unhelpful as to people's nationalities, I know this much from looking at an (incomplete) family tree of my dad's family:
( Lots of interesting stuff. )
So a high fraction of people from the British isles on Dad's dad's side, and some of that and some Germans on his Mom's side. Then more Germans and Welsh, plus Czech's, with Indians thrown in for flavor on Mom's.
Which makes total sense. I tend to like the works, mannerisms, cultures... all sorts of things, of these people... I can identify and sympathize. It's something inexplicable. I've always felt for the native Americans, been able to fathom British people, loved writings of Eastern Europeans... weird stuff like that. AH and my love of Germans too, good heavens. XD And whenever I'd read tales of immigrants in books, in history classes, I always empathized immensely - Irish mill girls to Swedish pioneers (KIRSTENNNN) to Russian Jews - I suppose because my ancestors WERE immigrants, some during the same times mentioned in stories... I love all these people, and I'm beginning to fathom why.

Maybe there's more to this whole "You have ____ blood in your veins" thing than I thought. I always thought it was a bit silly, an old superstition, but it seems there's actually something to it. That whole "genetic memory" thing you all were talking about...

I wonder how much of "me," if any, is original? Or am I just the startling new combination of the hopes, dreams, feelings, stories, mannerisms and lives of countless ancestors? I don't really mind if I am - in fact, I quite like the thought. In the slightest way, I'm tied down to something, connected - if I can be woven into the tapestry of humanity... then awesome. Because so often, I feel like I'm separate.

Turns out, I felt 'connected' all along. I'm just beginning to see why.