Last fall my sweet Mom and I had a conversation about family history. (Stick with me.)
I did not necessarily get the genealogy bug, but I will admit that my ancestors have been on my mind much more often since my Dad passed away almost 5 years ago.
I have a Mom and Dad who placed an emphasis on knowing where they came from. Before ancestry.com and internet access, they were searching microfiche and crossing oceans to find death certificates and ship manifests. They were committed to finding our people. So much so, that those of us in my generation didn’t have to do much work finding them.
Fast forward a few decades to the two of them turning into a hundred of us, their progeny, and those ancestor stories seem further and further away.
So, on that particular random November day, Mom and I were talking about how to keep those stories closer.
One of the things I most loved in studying positive psychology was that Martin Seligman talks about leveraging our individual strengths to meet the highest challenges that come our way.
He takes it even a step further by telling us to use our strengths in the service of something much larger than ourselves.
Well, what if we pulled one story about each of these ancestors and highlighted their strengths. And what if we distilled these stories down in a way that felt much more accessible than a large volume of family history?
Mom loved that idea. And she and I started painstakingly picking out a piece of their history and putting it to paper.
My family got involved.
One sister and I talked about the concept – and decided we would present the stories “ofrenda” style – on cards we could view on an easel. She became the project manager.
One sister was asked to illustrate the stories.
One sister was asked to gather pictures of each ancestor.
One brother was asked to help with packaging.
One sister did final editing.
And on and on.
The FamilySearch blog recounts that in the movie Coco, “Coco’s heartwarming story, full of tender family history messages, reminds us to remember our loved ones and tell their stories. Just as Miguel and his family learn, family history can be a powerful source of strength, hope, and healing in our lives as we do. It can help us better understand our own purpose in life, strengthen connections with our living family members, and repair family ties that have been damaged or broken. Most important, as we discover, preserve, and share the photos and stories of our ancestors, their memories can come to life for us and our families—and live on forever.”
When we picked up our beautiful ofrenda cards from the printer yesterday, we cried.
Real people. Real stories. Real strengths.
Our ancestors – those tied to us directly by blood, marriage or choice – exhibit so many strengths that live in each of us. My mom and I hope that by sharing our ancestor’s stories and strengths with our family, they can find themselves and their strengths in them – and create their own ofrenda somewhere in their home to ‘remember them.’
I can’t wait to hear about what strengths YOU have in you. And my sincere hope is that you recognize all the strength in all those people who have gone before you.
If you need help remembering what strengths you can leverage to meet your highest challenges, I would love to remind you.
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