Little Egypt Heritage Articles eduda tsunogisdi © Bill Oliver 19 November 2006 Vol 5 Issue: #37 ISBN: pending O'siyo, Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen of Little Egypt, "Family Traits" There is a strong desire, it seems, among us all to really know the truth and history of our family heritage. Many families have their story tellers or historians and through these clan members we piece together these traits in our heritage. If you are anything like me you have a "shoebox" somewhere that is full of photos - photos of family - ancestors, friends and extended families. Grandma and Mom passed down these 'shoeboxes', our [their] legacies, for their children and grandchildren. Right on!! Except that they didn't label the pictures and now you can't remember who was Great Aunt Girt from Great Aunt Mirt. That being as it may, sorting through the 'family shoebox' being chuck full of heritage photos probably made you curious about the folks in those pictures and what they were like. What are the inherited traits in those pictures? What are the common physical traits seen in those pictures in the box? Did you inherit more physical traits from Momma or Pappa? Who has dimples? Who could curl their tongue? Long or short second toe? Anchored or attached ear lobes? Who can/could do the Vulcan hand sign? Have you ever heard someone in your family say that you remind them of Aunt so-in-so or Uncle what's-his-name?? They say that we men inherit our tendency for baldness from our mothers. That might be true in that my Dad's brother and Father and all his paternal Uncles had full heads of hair upon passing over. Dad wasn't bald by any means at eighty-eight years old but a 'might thin' on top. Thin enough at least to get sunburned up there. Hmmm, and it looks like I just might, passing the three quarter century mark, be developing the same 'thinness'. My life-partner started wearing ear plugs. When I asked why she 'nicely' explained that during the night she would wake to the sound of a forest being cut down with chain saws. Now Mom never snored but Dad sure did! I took a genetics course in college, but I don't remember a snoring gene. Is there one? Is smuggling or horse thieving inherited? If the answer is 'yes' then I'm in trouble according to some accounts in the family history - I would inherit from both sides. How about stubbornness? My sister got her temper from somewhere. She was and is quite opinionated and thus displayed some stubbornness. She would display her stubbornness by running away from Dad. To get away she would dive beneath the bed where she could go but Dad could not. However, she can't match one of our Aunts. I was visiting our Mom's oldest sister last week and I can't remember how we got on the subject; however, she told me a couple of stories about Mom and their middle sister, Tat. Now if you think that Maureen O'Hara in the movie The Quiet Man was stubborn you have an idea of my Mom and Middle Sister Aunt. The youngest picture of this Aunt was taken in full costume of a winged character - an angel no less, or maybe a butterfly. Her long black curls looked like black tubes flowing over her shoulders. Her deep dark black eyes glared out her attitude - daring anyone to make comment. To this day no one can doubt that look was not something to be taken lightly and probably could set anything on fire. As told by their oldest sister, Mom and Middle Aunt were always trying to show who could be the stubbornest and I'm told that Middle Sister could be more stubborn than Mom. At any rate, when the family returned from New York, they were invited to a Halloween party and it was necessary to travel by 'trolley' car to get there. Our Aunt didn't want to go, especially in any costume, so was giving GrandMother a bit of "I won't, I won't - I WON'T!!" Grandma being as stubborn was saying "you will, you WILL". The oldest sister entered the trolley and receiving the hand signal from Grandma to proceed to the back of the car dutifully proceeded up the aisle. Mom, the second, had that gleam of the little girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead, and wasn't going to miss what was about to happen. The fourth Aunt, the youngest sister in attendance, who held the end position in this procession, was giggling. Aunt Stubborn wanted to sit in the front and in resisting the hand signals of Grandma was being 'assisted' to move toward the rear. Middle Aunt, determined to have her way, grabbed the handle of the first seat and hung on. Grandma peeled back one finger at a time to loosen the hold. So Middle Aunt grabbed the next seat and refused to let go. Again, the fingers were peeled back one at a time. And again Middle Aunt grabbed the handle of the next seat. This repeated itself all the way back to the last seats on the car. Each contestant determined to have their way; however, she who was largest and strongest did win the day. Now that shows stubbornness -- stubbornness inherited. Now you might argue that stubbornness is not genetic, but rather cultural. O.K., but 'inherited' all the same. Take some time today to think about how your inherited family traits have appeared in yourself, your children, or others in your family. Write about them and preserve this important part of your history. That way your grandchildren will know exactly who to blame when their spouse elbows them for snoring in the middle of the night! e-la-Di-e-das-Di ha-WI NV-WA-do-hi-ya NV-WA-to-hi-ya-da. (May you walk in peace and harmony) Wado, Bill -=- 933 PostScript: Postscript: "Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives ..." Alexander McCall Smith, _/Dream Angus/_ ------------------------------------------------------------------------