Learning Everyday

Adjusting to the move to Virginia Beach has not been easy. After over two years of getting accustomed to the area, I am starting to feel more at home. One of my most favorite places to go is Colonial Williamsburg. B and I like it so much that we have an annual pass to go any time we want.

We enjoy going because it is a beautiful place that is steeped in history. It is also more like the land that I am used to, with hills, deciduous foliage, rather than pine trees, everywhere. It is more like what I knew for most of my life, with perhaps less steep hills.

Recently I have been trying to piece together my family tree. I was raised to know who I was descended from, but I also knew never to trust what my mother said without verifying her words. For the past ten years I have been doing my own digging, and now I know why I feel connected to Virginia, and why I think leaving would be very hard to do.

Essentially, my ancestors have been here since the settlers first came to Virginia in the early 1600s. One family, whose name is listed on page upon page of our family tree, was the most prominent family in Virginia and owned half of the state during that time. There was much bloodshed over acquiring the land, as the native Powhatans did not give up without a fight. I am not proud of that part of it, but to know that the place that I love has been a part of my family for hundreds of years keeps me connected to this area, to feel as though I have a place in this world, and to know that my family has shared the same space gives me a sense of comfort. I can also imagine why the native Americans felt so strongly when the invaders from the Bay came in and threatened their homeland. I would have defended it too.

I have also learned that piecing together a family tree is like trying to assemble a puzzle with 1,000 pieces, and 200 of them look identical. Slowly, over time, I want to figure it all out. It isn't because I think it makes me more important. It's more because it's a challenge, and I like challenges, and I don't want to think that everything my mother told me was a lie. There were so many lies she told (like having cancer when she didn't), that it's easy to discredit everything she said, both good and bad. If I could have taken every word for truth, it would have been good. But, this is not the case. That's okay, because in the meantime, I am learning a lot about where I came from, and why I am the way I am.