Be a Candle

In a few days’ time many American families, including mine, will be celebrating Thanksgiving.

As my family can trace its roots back to the Mayflower, I am especially cognizant of the fact that this day isn’t a cause for celebration for a lot of people. It is instead, a Day of Mourning. I am thankful for many things in my life, including feeling safe and getting to call a beautiful place home, and that I have family and friends who love me. I am conscious, always, to the fact that so many more people do not feel the same. Our world is undeniably struggling through a volatile time. Truthfully, where there is humanity there is struggle.

Be a candle.

One small candle.

A warm glow against an impenetrable night.

More candles, more hope

To keep the dark at bay.

Don’t let the shadows drown you,

Smother your light, strangle your heart.

If stifled, light anew.

More candles, more hope.

The Results Are In!

For a long time I wanted to get my DNA tested.  When I happened along a Groupon I decided to finally do it.  That was about six weeks ago. I got my results this morning! 

The results surprised me and it has taken me a fair amount of time to thoroughly read the manual that came with the results, and to digest all the information. I thought I was mainly British/Irish and Eastern European (the border near Russia has changed so much it is easier to generalize).

However, according to AncestryByDNA I’m 98% European, with the bulk of that coming from Iraq! And I'm apparently Scottish, not British/Irish. 2% is Indigenous American which I did believe there would be a small amount of, but the top matching country is Venezuela!  Say what?!

In my endeavor to make sense of my genetic blueprint I realized that perhaps these results aren't as bizarre as first they seemed, and felt.

On my mom's maternal side, my great-aunt researched our lineage and we can claim Mayflower descendancy. On my mom's paternal side we figured Irish seeing as my grandfather's surname was McCann, and his family settled in the coal mining region around West Virginia. One of my uncles is now working on researching that side of the family's ancestry so it could be rather interesting to learn more about them in light of what I found out today.  I suppose it's not terribly far-fetched to go from British/Irish to Scottish.

My paternal side of the family is Jewish. I always thought they were from Eastern Europe along the border with Russia, so potentially Russian or Polish or whatever depending on which country was ruling at any given time. That being said, it's fairly reasonable to consider that our ancestors could've migrated from the Middle East region northward at some point further back that anyone alive during my time remembers.

In conclusion, I can add myself to the growing list of people who are surprised by their DNA tests!