Post about an ancestor.

Honor those whom you've came from.

I honor my Grandmother Goldie. She came up from Virginia and met my Grandfather, Paul in Pennsylvania. After they married, they moved to NE Ohio where they bought a small farm in the '40's. After being rejected from the army as '4F', Paul worked three jobs to pay the farm off. He died from working to death in the mid fifties, leaving his wife, Goldie, to raise four children in rural Ohio. Goldie not only raised those four kids, but also raised me and my two sisters after my parents divorced in '69.

This is for you Grandma. Through all the good and bad... I still love you. I'll never forget the twinkle in your eyes when I told you the story's of my adventures. I know I remind you of Grandpa, for I carry his name with me to this day. There are times I wonder how I ever survived, if it wern't that he wern't with me. I honor you Grandma. You raised me well.

decent folks, salt of the earth. My great-aunt Vidie could heal you with a touch and turned me toward where I was always really going, Wicca. I never met her. I hear she was a healer. She was a midwife and a touch healer. I have inherited that ability from my mom's side and have helped my mother's arthritis and a broken arm heal. There is a warmth that passes from me to whomever and Mom told me that is what it felt like when Aunt Vidie touched mom's hand when she had a wart. It was gone in days.

I honor all my ancestors, who were all good hardworking people but Mom's family is easiest to love.

RV

my Papaw as I always called him. He passed to the next realm more than 14 years ago and I still miss him like it was yesterday.

He was the kindest, most honest, ethical and hardworking person I have ever known. He taught me to think for myself and to balance my needs against the needs of others. He taught me how to balance a desire to sacrifice and serve others with taking care of myself so that I could continue to do so. He taught me to tell the truth and to see through the lies of others. He taught me to value freedom and justice for all of the Earth's creatures.

He lived all of the principles he taught and showed me by example how to travel lightly through this world. When he died, scores of people lined up to pay their respects although he was not famous. Every one of them made a point of telling me how much they respected him. It was a long, but beautiful night.

I honor you, Papaw, and strive to walk in your very big footprints. Hopefuly I will someday come close, before it is my turn to pass into the next realm. Until we meet again.

Although she died while I was very young, her spirit has reached to me within the past 2-3 years.

She is a Cherokee who married an Englishman (my grandfather) and never admitted to being a Cherokee afterward for fear of persecution.

One of the most memorable times she came to me, she and I were walking along the shore. She told me, "The baby has no understanding that the pain in its belly is hunger." It is due in large part to her guidance that I've been able to continue on my path and feel a peace in my life I never thought I'd be able to experience.

Sallie: Who was left a widow with five children before she turned 35. Who kicked her abusive husband out after he told her the only reason he married her was to have a place to live, by which time she was pregnant with my grandmother. Who was a single mother in the 1930s, working in cafes and cleaning her church. Who later married a wonderful man who deserved her.

Lula: Who raised her younger siblings after her parents died, when she was in her early 20s. Who married an Italian man nearly a foot shorter than she was. Who took in various children and grandchildren as they were battered by life's waves. Who adopted four granddaughters under the age of 12 when she was in her 60s after their mother died and their father didn't want them because they'd ruin his new life. Who used to hide the neighbor children when their father would come home drunk. Who was a wonderful, kind woman, but who demanded absolute silence when Gunsmoke came on the TV.

My maternal grandmother who was the most fun and honest woman I have ever met.
I honor my (to me unkown in this life)maternal great-grandmother who I just found out was full blooded Cherokee.

Samhain blessings to all..........

...it makes me feel good just to read them.

I only knew my grandmothers. My grandfathers were dead before I was born, though I heard stories about them and what good people they were. One was a doctor who died accidentally when he was only 35. The other was a well-respected small businessman who died early from what was always rumored to be a heart problem, but later I found out actually was alcohol intoxication.

My two grandmothers were Margaret and Margaret. One of them, the one I look like, developed MS at a fairly young age. Being one of the older grandkids I remember her though. I used to sit by her bed and commune with her when she got so she couldn't talk very well. I was very aware of her struggle with her body and how she tried to keep up her spirit in spite of it. I learned from observing her not to make assumptions about people as "ill" and never to see them as terminally ill. I learned from her that you must live life one day at a time and make the best of it. There are no guarantees. She loved growing plants and flowers. I do too. I always think of her in a beautiful garden.

My other grandmother Margaret lived to a very old age. She was light-hearted and had a great sense of humor, always telling funny stories about people and their foibles. She was like a folk-analyst I think now...very perceptive about others. She taught me when to resist and when to let things go. How to stay tethered to the ground, which I always found difficult...how to keep your equilibrium. She taught me how to get beyond ordinary perspectives, how to infuse life with magic. How to appreciate small things. How to make time expand. I always remember this grandmother talking talking talking. Sitting on the porch telling stories and laughing and talking our ears off.

I honor all these ancestors.