Let’s play a game! It’s a bit like that old summer camp song the little kids loved. Goin’ on a squeegie hunt. Gonna catch a big one. I’m not afraid!
For this moment, it’s just me goin’ on the hunt, with you eavesdropping, as it were. I’ll do (almost) all the work. This adventure can also be used for group processing, family counseling, all kinds of things. It starts like this..
I say something that’s true in this moment… at least for me… All kinds of things are swimming around in my head.
Then, I say… But before that… my DNA test results came back yesterday.
Then, I say… But after that… my sister found out that she got in to the Mayflower Society, today.
But before that… my sister also found out that she got in to the Daughters of the American Revolution.
But after that… I listened to a lot of people speaking in opposition to a possible war in Iran. (Yes, you’d know some of their names.) One young man spoke about his family, in Iran, having to watch his wedding via a web service because they couldn’t come to the USA for the ceremony.
But before that… We moved around a lot when I was a kid, and I never really felt a strong sense of place.
But after that… My girls wanted to hear stories about our family. Stories “from your mouff, Grammy.” So I told (tell) them lots of stories.
But before that… Elsie, my Farm Gramma, told me lots and lots of stories about our family. And my city grandparents, Elmer and Elizabeth, showed me lots of pictures. (Many of them, people fishing!)
But after that… I learned geography in middle school from a retired military officer who seemed mostly interested in places he’d served, which seemed to leave several of those big things called continents out of the discussion!
But before that… some of those people in some of my family stories came to America on boats. (The Mayflower thing was probably a hint!) The ones I knew about came from places like England and Scotland and Sweden.
But after that… one of my uncles, whose nickname we’ll skip, got deeply into the genealogy thing and I learned more stories about those people.
But before that… some of those people who came to America on boats had families who had come from places I didn’t know about.
But after that… I started my journey into the world of Intentional Creativity® and I made friends and deep connections with women from all over the world.
But before that… I was once a poor single mom and, somehow, I coped by trying to worry mostly about things happening in my neighborhood.
But after that… One of my new friends told me some stories that brought hurricanes and earthquakes in Puerto Rico into my neighborhood. And other friends brought fires in California and Australia into my neighborhood. And other friends brought earthquakes and floods in Mexico into my neighborhood. And most of them brought new images and legends and possibilities into my neighborhood, too!
But before that… and before that… and before that… My ancestors lived in what is now the UK and Sweden, for sure. They also lived in what we now call Germany and Tuscany (!) and France and Spain and Puerto Rico and Peru and East Asia and Iran and Africa. (I’ve probably missed a few but I’m still learning!)
And after that… my neighborhood got a whole lot bigger!
All of which makes me curious… What happened for you, before and after? Send me a note…
But before that… I’m off to pack paint. It’s TreeWoman day tomorrow!
And after that… I have some more stories to learn and to tell and, quite probably, to paint!