From May 28, 2007
Memorial Day

A day for remembrance of those who have gone.  Behind us, the long chain of our ancestors stretches, link by link, into the fog of forgetfulness.  It goes from me to my parents, to their parents, and to their parents.  There my memory chain fades away.  At the age of four, I knew my great-great-grandmother and loved her tiny person, a true “granny” with gray hair in a bun, and print dresses and aprons and round lace Peter Pan collars.  For good or for ill - mostly good - I was so fortunate, I knew them all.

And now the chain goes forward from me to my children, to my grandchildren, to my great-grandchildren, into the future, which are also in the mists, which I know not  Six generations in my chain, from about 1860 to 2007, roughly 150 years so far, maybe 170, if I live out my life goal.  

The chain is there in catenary curves from one to another, as long as our memories hold the links .. “The depth of the future is a function of the depths of the past.”  [REF: Margaret Mead, 2/5/65]

“Suddenly all my ancestors are behind me.  ‘Be still,’ they say.  ‘Watch and listen.  You are the result of the love of thousands.’”

[REF:  “The Mankind Project”]