A Thousand Loves

Honor your ancestors, for you are the result of a thousand loves….

As I put things away after our move, I have been finding lots of little bits of my ancestors. One of my favorites is a small plastic ‘Parkay’ (remember that stuff?) container full of dried basil leaves. It was the last crop of basil my 94-year-old grandfather ever grew. He brought it to me a few months before he died- that was 22 years ago and I have been carting it around with me ever since.

I also have an old grey sweater that was my paternal grandmother’s favorite. I have been hauling it from place to place in my life now for over 30 years.

Then there is the cream and sugar set that belonged to my maternal grandmother- it is not particularly stylish or trendy, but it has made its home next to every coffee pot I have owned for over 27 years.

There are a few newbies- like the small bag of peach pits that I have been saving to plant at a home (this home) that I knew we would stay at for a while … They were handed down to me by my uncle and although he has only been gone for about 5 years, the backstory to why those peach pits are so special goes back much further. They came from peaches that were grown high in the Pyrenees Mountains where my Basque family roots began many hundreds of years ago.

Wherever life takes me, I will continue to lug these things with me, and I hope to acquire a few more treasures as I go.

… Honor your ancestors, for you are the result of a thousand loves.

 What a beautiful thing to remember.