Pedigrees of the past

 

We are all the product of our past, our family, the circumstances that generated our personalities.

The stories we heard growing up about our magnificent ancestors, the Indian princess, the student of Paderewski, the first woman doctor in Germany, the swashbuckling pirate? Those are the tales that families used to pass down. They were the pedigrees of the past.

The alcoholic father, the enabling mother, the compulsive obsessive grandmother? These are the things no one ever wants to mention, but they shaped us just as surely as those other glorious stories spun by hopeful people on hot summer nights.

Ultimately, it is not the stories we heard, or even the ones we tell that shape our lives.

It is our own determination, our own perseverance, our own grit and love and sweat and tears, that brought us to this place we are at today.

We have learned which family members are there standing behind and beside us and we are standing shoulder to shoulder with them too. 

These are the building blocks of success. The stories are just food for thought, something to feed our imaginations and add a little spice to the things that truly sustain us.