Reclaiming Your Heritage
"Tiz. Where's that name from??"
"Poland."
That's all I ever knew. Dad's relatives were from Poland. So I was Polish. I needed to like pierogi's and paczki's and other stuff Polish folks eat. I knew in my head that this was not all of my heritage, but it was all I knew, so it was all I could hold on to. Until recently.
Dad started on Ancestry.com. It was a good project for him. He had a purpose for a while and the entire family (and extended family) was able to figure out where they came from...without having to do any work for themselves. Win-Win!!
The results were not in any way surprising (the Tiz side...uber-Polish) and quite surprising. Quite surprising in the fact that I've got a crazy amount of Irish heritage in me!! I KNEW my hair should be red without chemical help!! And it also explains the sun and my tentative "friendship" (if you count "friendship" as me liking the sun and it's lovely rays, and the sun burning my skin every chance it gets...even when I'm sporting SPF 90...in. the. shade.) Apparently, I should be telling the world that while my last name is Polish, I'm actually more Irish than anything else. But that's a long answer when someone asks the "Last Name" question. And no one really cares anyway.
I guess it's fitting that the next trip has been tentatively planned for Ireland this year. The trip is still in its infancy. I do have the guide book. I have the "promise" of the trip. But I don't have tickets in my hand or an itinerary with my name on it yet. I did get a call from the trip planner last week. Sure, the conversation started by him saying, "And who are you again??" But there was a conversation. That's better than we got last year at this time.
I'm not going to go deep into the whole genesis of the trip. Mostly, because I don't want flaming daggers thrown my way. But there won't be a whole lot of planning this time. It's almost like we can go in blind. But that's now how I roll...ever. I already have places bookmarked on Trip Advisor. I know where we're going to have High Tea. I know where we're going to find cupcakes. I know where we're going to find wine and cheese. Yeah...it's all food-related. It's always food-related.
So now I wait. I wait for the confirmation e-mail. I wait for the itinerary. I wait for this to be totally official. I wait to get just one more stamp in my passport...
"Poland."
That's all I ever knew. Dad's relatives were from Poland. So I was Polish. I needed to like pierogi's and paczki's and other stuff Polish folks eat. I knew in my head that this was not all of my heritage, but it was all I knew, so it was all I could hold on to. Until recently.
Dad started on Ancestry.com. It was a good project for him. He had a purpose for a while and the entire family (and extended family) was able to figure out where they came from...without having to do any work for themselves. Win-Win!!
The results were not in any way surprising (the Tiz side...uber-Polish) and quite surprising. Quite surprising in the fact that I've got a crazy amount of Irish heritage in me!! I KNEW my hair should be red without chemical help!! And it also explains the sun and my tentative "friendship" (if you count "friendship" as me liking the sun and it's lovely rays, and the sun burning my skin every chance it gets...even when I'm sporting SPF 90...in. the. shade.) Apparently, I should be telling the world that while my last name is Polish, I'm actually more Irish than anything else. But that's a long answer when someone asks the "Last Name" question. And no one really cares anyway.
I guess it's fitting that the next trip has been tentatively planned for Ireland this year. The trip is still in its infancy. I do have the guide book. I have the "promise" of the trip. But I don't have tickets in my hand or an itinerary with my name on it yet. I did get a call from the trip planner last week. Sure, the conversation started by him saying, "And who are you again??" But there was a conversation. That's better than we got last year at this time.
I'm not going to go deep into the whole genesis of the trip. Mostly, because I don't want flaming daggers thrown my way. But there won't be a whole lot of planning this time. It's almost like we can go in blind. But that's now how I roll...ever. I already have places bookmarked on Trip Advisor. I know where we're going to have High Tea. I know where we're going to find cupcakes. I know where we're going to find wine and cheese. Yeah...it's all food-related. It's always food-related.
So now I wait. I wait for the confirmation e-mail. I wait for the itinerary. I wait for this to be totally official. I wait to get just one more stamp in my passport...
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