5 Days of Gratitude: Day 3 A New View of Ancestors

Last night I watched Ken Burn’s Special on the Dust Bowl, with pictures of  weathered folks standing in a parched landscapes. Many of them looked like my ancestors  grand parents and aunts and uncles. I even have delicate black and white photos of family in front of sod houses on the Kansas prairie.  Until last night I never really understood how deep the scares of those times went in the psyche of that generation of people.

My beloved Grandma Betty who painted this picture had a fragile nature and came to an untimely end shall we say. It was always assumed it was a flaw in her character. But after seeing how deep the dust seeped into peoples souls in the 1930’s I am taking a gentler look at her life, as well as, the gift of artistic nature she passed on to me.  I am grateful for this transformed view of my grandmother. Also there are cracks forming in my view of what I once thought were just mean spirited, penny pinching relatives.

I am also, grateful for all who have come before on whose shoulders I stand. The blood relatives, the teachers, the friends, all beings who have guided my path to where I am today.

I recently passed this picture to my daughter for her new home, thus becoming my self an ancestor.

Are you an ancestor?