Posted in 2023, family, Religion, Writing

Tradition Abandoned

What traditions have you not kept that your parents had?

When I read this question, I knew exactly what my answer was. Perhaps it’s not a “tradition” such as holiday celebrations (still going on!), but something that was done and passed down from grandparents to parents….

Church. I don’t go to church.

I grew up in a strong Catholic family and went to a catholic school from first to eighth grade. We went to church every Sunday for 9:15 mass. Mom, Dad, my 2 sisters and me. It was never a consideration that my sisters or I would go to a catholic high school but I went to a catholic college for my 2 year degree. More so, because the campus in the countryside was so beautiful, not because of the religion!

This is not to say there is no God in my life. I just don’t need to look for him in church. That was a tradition or structure that was passed down from hundreds of years. But so much as changed.

My wise grandmother said something to my aunt back in the 1930s when my aunt a Polak (actually German) was going to marry an Italian. Someone questioned their different churches. My family went to a Polish Catholic Church and he went to a Roman Catholic Church. Gram shut that right down! She said, “that’s a lot of nonsense. God is in every church, not just in our church!”

I’d like to think she’d feel the same way about God being found all around us and not just found in a building. We can experience and talk to Him wherever we are.

Posted in 2023, Writing

This Is Who I Am

How would you describe yourself to someone?

Whew this is a tough one! I keep walking away and coming back again. It’s too hard, too deep. I’ll try.

I am a Taurus and I proudly embrace all of it. I’m STUBBORN but through in the fact that I’m Polish, double stubborn. I’m loyal past the point that I should be.

I’m sensitive. Sometimes too sensitive. I can take a joke but I don’t like to be used as the butt of the joke.

I try to be positive every day and start with a positive thought as I get out of bed. Usually “thank you God for this day“.

I like to be home more than go out. I like to wake up early even if I don’t have to because I love early morning.

I’m always changing and learning about myself but these are things that have been me as long as I’ve been alive.

Posted in 2023, thoughts, Writing

Who Looks the Friendliest?

If you could bring back one dinosaur, which one would it be?

My decision to bring back one dinosaur would be based on – who’s going to hurt us the least?! Those crazy T-Rexs or running, screaming bird-like things were a little to scary and wily in Jurassic Park for me!

I had to do a little google search for an answer. I found that this Mamenchisaurus sinocanadorum which is a Sauropod. It has the longest neck of all of them!

If their necks are far enough away from our heads….??

Posted in 2023, Memories, Writing

What’s Your Name?

What’s the story behind your nickname?

I’ve had a couple of nicknames based on my last name but those were more teasing than actual nicknames.

The one true nickname I’ve had since high school is JakTwin which eventually got shortened to Jak. My last name was Jakiela and I am a twin. My sister and I started out as JakTwin 1 and JakTwin 2, names given to us by friends.

It was shortened to Jak by a boyfriend who loved to give people nicknames. I accepted it and it was quickly adopted by my new group of friends through him. It was so often used that his father actually thought my first name was Jackie!

When I met my husband, it was with a friend from this group (that other boyfriend long gone) and since she called me Jak, so did the man who would become my husband. His friends still call me Jak after 36 years but now he usually calls me Nancy.

Posted in Writing

Thoughts on Writing

blank pages

My best ideas come to me when I’m in the shower. I know I’m not the only one who feels that way. I think they are so amazing and I cannot wait to get them out of my head and on to paper. But when I get to that paper with pen in hand – I question why ANYONE would be interested in what I have to say.

I have notebook upon notebook of ancestral information. Names, dates, and places of people I have been researching and discovering for over 20 years – not too easy when paternal grandparents have been dead since 1927 and 1935 – all ready to be written about. Yet I spend weekend organizing instead of writing.

I do what I do in every situation, I spend more time reading about something than doing it! It’s time to just put one foot in front of the other and see what comes out.