19 Comments

Water is life. As a longtime swimmer from the same rocky ledges on the south shore of Lake Ontario, I have witnessed the positive (Clean Water Act of the early 70s) impacts and negative impacts (introduction of zebra and quagga mussels) on the Lake.

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I’m glad for your courage to be so vulnerable, being vulnerable enough to write about your hunger for your ancestors and what their lives were like.

I also appreciated the theme of blood from blue to menstrual to Blue Bloods. Your writing as always makes me ponder, similar questions and needs. Thank you for this.

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I'm aware of your influence, as well. The word "legacy" has insinuated itself into my vocabulary so I'm spending a lot more time with my ancestral inheritance than I did before.

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...and water.

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Oops. Slipped my mind. Thank you for lifting up water and reminding me of how vulnerable it is.

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and how precious

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Blood—never thought to take bloodlines literally. Thanks for another thoughtful essay.

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What could be more central to life....blood, air, what else is there?

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Thank you for keeping you’re ever present finger on the pulse of our ancestors.

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I promise to tell them all about you.

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Wow, that's a wise vision in which you brought into being a wider circulation of bloodstreams through all the relatives!

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I'm feeling more open to connecting on many levels. I tried to pursue genealogy on a more conventional level and found it arduous and hard on the eyes. I'm more interested in the imaginative, visionary possibilities.

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A really lovely essay as always! And speaking of bubbemeisehs...What about the one when you make an ugly face and your grandmother tells you not to do it (unbecoming for a young woman) because if a wind comes your face will stay that way. Definitely not good for marriage prospects.

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I hadn't heard that one! I learned not that long ago that my grandmother tied a ribbon on may carriage to ward off the evil eye. We are not far from fairy tales.

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My parents did the red ribbon thing on the steering column of a new car.

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The beauty of family history and the deep meaning it holds for us as we approach the last stop in life's journey coming into view.

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It's absolutely true that I'm increasingly drawn to this material...as if they're waiting for me.

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I love this image “. I think we have something to teach one another. It is, in the end, a continuous loop. They pass their wisdom down to me and I send it back up to them transformed. “

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Thank you, Jocelyn. It calls for some exercise of the imagination, but it seems that there's a level at which the communication feels ongoing and moving in both directions.

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