Where do YOU Come From?

To whom do you belong? Who claims you, and in turn, who do you claim?

When I was young, there was more a culture of "family" in the USA. I grew up half an hour from grandpa and grandma's and enjoyed monthly get togethers with my MANY cousins. To this day, I treasure my relationships with each of them. I have a large community of support.

My husband grew up across the country from the few extended family members he has. He has very tight family relations, people who would beat the tar out of you for looking at any of them the wrong way. (I love his family.)

As you can imagine, this has made for an interesting mesh of views.

Saturday, we had the opportunity to listen to a man who has researched how to strengthen families. He showed us statistics about the influence parents and siblings have on individuals, and how it diminishes over time. The pattern is that kids who go their own way break free from their parent's patterns between ages 14 and 18.

He also presented a study that was performed by psychologists about the factors that make for well grounded kids--or ones that deal well with the stress and change. The potential answers included:

• A. Eating breakfast together as a family every morning 
• B. A deep understanding of their family history
• C. Regularly attending religious services

Can you guess the answer? I was rather shocked.

B. A deep understanding of their family history.

And that's why I ask the question. I guess if you know where you come from and the legacy passed to you from your ancestors, you feel a greater obligation to live up to or be better than them.

Do you know who your ancestors are, and do you have any stories of their lives you cherish?

P.S. Here's an awesome tool for figuring out who you belong to, if you haven't done it already.

I'm Thankful for my Readers Bloghop

Today I'm joining Tara Tyler and Vikki for the I'm Thankful for my Readers bloghop.

Behind the curtain of any creative mind
Lies the secrets, the friends, the power
For creativity thrives best in the hands of many
While it often flounders in the grasp of the one.

A quick shout to my most awesomest critique pals who keep me writing and are kind enough to knock me over the head when I say, er, write something awful:

Cindy

Mom

Rachel Hert

Tammy Mckee

Fiona Claire 

To my amazing support groups on facebook -- WS4U and Write on to Build on, you inspire me!

To a couple favorite blogging buddies who are truly the crem della crem, thank you for consistently popping back in, even when I go off the rails for months on end.

Kerri Cuevas

Ian

To my amazing family who supports my whacked-out need to write and disappear into the electronic page for weeks--thank you Matt, Quin, Kaily and Random.

And finally to all you wonderful peeps on the blog-o-sphere, for reading, laughing, crying, and commenting along on this crazy journey we call life.

Here's some cyber cheese for all of you!

Who supports you in your dreams?

On the Wonders of Cheese...and symbolism

If you've been here for very long you certainly noticed the redundancy of my one fetish. Call it a character quirk, but if I were to be written into a book you can bet I'd been buying, munching, or mentioning cheese at least once a page.

When I think of cheese the first image to come to mind is that 5 lb golden block of cheddar Mom bought once a week. You know, the staple. It's the one food my family would have ceased to exist without. It represents life, vitality, thriving existence. But more than that, cheese=happiness. Besides the many tongue-tingling motivations to love cheese, I honestly think it's the key to solving all our problems.

Above and beyond it's cheery color, that block of cheddar encompasses lunches spent with my brothers, cheese souffles that my special needs brother died for, and bathroom raids to discover where Randy stashed the block this time. (Yes, he really did steal the cheese and hide it in the bathroom...regularly.) Every childhood memory I have of cheese is tied to family.

Families are the ultimate source of joy. And pain. But mostly joy. 

Connecting to symbolism:

Complex characters, or real people don't simply latch onto an item or notion for no reason. There are deeper motives. So what drives you? What drives your character(s)? And what outward symbols do you use to exemplify this?