Last night I was called to dig into my heritage and ancestry.com had me shook. Every moment I sit and process that I’m bigger than I thought that I was. I was so disconnected from one of my many threads of heritage that I didn’t realize that when I was reading the history books about Louisiana they were actually talking about my people! I am gaining this knowledge that the world is bigger and more connected than I thought and I play a part in it… I’m living it! Wow! Looking in census records seeing creole, native, negro, mulatto, white, different names, mysteries, family trees, unspoken relations… I looked at the map of Louisiana today and really saw that I am actually really in the middle of Creole/Cajun French land. I was born here. I look at the census records and see the hundreds of people that carry my name too. It’s so much bigger than those generalized movies about the American experience. A lot of people have a lot of different things going on. And I carry certain experiences with me because of little things that I’ve picked up… it’s all very interesting! Sometimes it’s more interesting to uncover true peoples history than to live in fiction. And sometimes fiction is valuable. It’s all a balance. You are one, and you are many. Be both! Down with racism, prejudice, sexism, and xenophobia. Move if you want to. Do what you want to do. Do what you need to do. You might feel that imperative for a reason greater than you. Live to find out!✌️