Seven Generations

This morning I took all of the Holkos (minus me, Jake and Sarah) to the airport. The boys are off on their Canadian fishing trip, and Susan is going back to Ohio to visit with family. I am feeling very sad that they are all gone! Of course, it's a chance to not have Ben in the house. I knew I would miss him being here. I didn't know I would be so sad to see Ken and Susan leave, and I didn't realize how grateful I would be that Sarah is still here! I'm not sure exactly when the defining moment was, but I guess at some point they became MY family, too. Not just my in-laws, or my husband's family, but MY family. I suspect it had something to do with Jacob coming into our lives and bringing everyone closer together. It's amazing what such a small person can do!

So as crummy as it is knowing that I won't really get to talk to Ben for a while, I was really lucky today to get to talk to my brother! He has finished his treatment program and is moving into the next phase of life. Like any normal person would do, when I heard his voice on the line I asked him, "How are you?" That's a question we ask people all the time. I'm not sure we always listen for the answer to that question. But when I asked it, I really listened to his answer. And the most awesome part was the simple, one-word answer. "Excellent."

An interesting thing he mentioned, among MANY interesting things he experienced and learned, was the Native American belief that everything we do will affect people for the next seven generations, as we are affected by the seven generations before us. I've heard a little bit about this before (and it's a brand name of organic cleaning products) and was actually thinking about it last night. My uncle has been working on gathering family tree information, and has been able to trace my grandfather Masterson's ancestry back quite a few generations, to the first Masterson that came from Ireland. I can't explain the feeling that I get when I look at these pictures of MY ancestors, but it is so neat. It makes me feel happy to see my name on this tree, to see my little boy's name there...and to see how we are connected to so many other people. These are photos of people I have never met, don't know anything about, but still feel connected to. I love that.

Here are just two of the photos I have received. Edward and Alice Masterson are my great-great-grandparents. Here they are in this photo with their children. James is my great-grandfather.

James (same James in above picture) and Hannah are my great-grandparents. They had already passed when my dad was born, so he never got to meet them.