23 October 2010

our family... past, present, future.

paper dolls

The owlets are playing with paper dolls we made a while ago. There's a doll for each member of the family as well as the cat, the chooks and guinea pigs. They're loving dressing them and making new clothes, then acting out regular day to day stuff. Their focus is very much on the moment.

Huz is delving into the past, finding long lost relatives and forming a family tree for the owlets. Big owlet is showing snippets of interest, but I think she'll be more excited when she can place it on a big poster on the wall and see herself at the centre of it, as you do when you're a kid. We're much more interested to find the history and piece together the puzzle of how we got to be here. Surprisingly, we found that I have Tasmanian convict ancestry too - not just Huz!

As for me... well I'm pottering, resting, trying to stay in the moment, but thinking just a little bit about the near future, the knowns and the unknowns and all that they will bring.

2 comments:

  1. I'm a recent family history sleuth too. When my daughter was born I had a strong urge to 'know' where I came from. My dad's side was well-known but Mum's was full of mystery. We're from Melb originally and I was soooo excited to find 2 early Tassie convicts, as well as an opera singer, an actress who worked in the boom-time theatres in Melb until the day she died, lots of miners. a lighthouse operator on King Island - so many stories! 'Meeting' your ancestors really brings history to life.

    I remember reading somewhere once, during those early days with my firstborn, that when mothering seems overwhelming, you can imagine yourself with your baby in your arms, your mother behind you, her mother behind her, and so on. The line would stretch (can't remember how far, but it was a very long line). I loved that image, and the security and confidence that came with knowing that the very fact that I was alive was testiment to the successful mothering of every woman who had come before me.

    And I love how 'of the moment' children are. I wonder if it's part of their innate drive to play and have fun.

    Sorry for the very long comment!

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  2. Would love to go down this path one day. When life around me has settled a bit, and when my brain needs another thing to do! It would be fasinating.

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