Day 156 - old family stories

Sometimes over dinner or while sitting with family you hear stories of when they were younger, late relatives, what life was like growing up. Whenever this happens a part of me gets so excited, I really love hearing these stories. And I wondered why. Well I guess for one thing, parents and other relatives are not real people to you. What I mean by that is, they are guardians, and you've only known them as that. But, they are people too, with their own personal growth and histories. And by hearing these stories it sort of paints a whole picture of your family as a collection of people, characters. Which brings me to the fact that, these stories really make you understand yourself a lot more. We always are tied to our families, and their pasts, both good and bad. And the more I hear about my family history, the more I understand myself through them. The habits, interests and idiosyncrasies we have aren't as unique as we think they are sometimes. They are in some ways inherited from the generations before us. How this happens I have no idea, and I'm sure there's lots of theories to back it. But for whatever reason, our ancestors really do impact the present. I really think that much more is inherited through genetics then we often assume. And I guess that's why I feel a tingle every time I find something new out about my family member's histories.