Zero worries at all, dear heart. I use voice text at times, too, and completely understand regarding how it can have quite the mind of its own some days (much like autocorrect!).

Thank you again wholeheartedly for your comment.

♥ Autumn

Thank you greatly, dear Willow. I hugely appreciate your input on this subject, especially as someone who works in STEM professionally. I just Googled and bookmarked the article that you very thoughtfully suggested, and will be reading it this weekend.

Likewise, I’m touched that you shared about your family’s own ancestry. What fascinating information DNA testing helped to bring to light for you and your relatives.

There’s an old running joke in the genealogy world that all French people are related sooner or later (and in my experience, if you branch out the tree far enough, this is usually true), so I cannot help but wonder if we perhaps you and I share a common French (or other) ancestor at some point. How cool would that be!

Really, thank you again very much for your wonderful comment and the touching birthday wishes it housed.

May you have a sunny, terrific weekend,
♥ Autumn

Thank you deeply, sweet Tammy. What a heart-touchingly beautiful wish. I second it completely and really do hope that we can join you and your beloved in reaching three wonderful decades (and counting!) of life together.

With my birthday now past (it was yesterday), our anniversary in October is one of the main events that I’m happily looking forward to in the remaining few months of 2020. Much like my b-day, I doubt it will be the most lavish or action-packed event, but for a born introvert like me who favours low-key celebrations as a general rule to begin with, that is 100% okay.

A very big thank you again for everything. I hope that your month is off to a lovely, safe and very happy start.

Scores of hugs,
♥ Autumn

What an incredible gift of love and knowledge your mom created for your family, both present members and for generations to come. While not a great number of people on either side of my family have a passion for this subject, back in the 1990s (if I’m not mistaken) a few distant relatives on one paternal branch created a book with a lot of information about that branch. Very few physical copies were produced, but thankfully my paternal grandparents were able to obtain a copy back then and it has been an incredibly useful and valuable source of information for me (and interesting, my name, along with those of my biological parents, appear in it).

You’re so sweet and kind. Thank you very much for the lovely Canada Day and b-day wishes. My birthday took place yesterday on a gorgeous sunny July day. It was quite the understated event this time around, but that sincerely suits me this year and feels both right and respectful (to me personally) in the face of all that 2020 has thrown at the world so far this year.

Many hugs & warm, beautiful summertime blessings,
♥ Autumn

Thank you SO very much, wonderfully dear Ann. You are such a sweet soul and a treasured friend.

I completely agree. It would be naive to think that things will blossom into sunshine and roses overnight anytime soon, but I’m too much of a born optimist to believe that things won’t gradually (at least) begin to turn around on some fronts eventually. Hope is like oxygen to the soul and I plan to keep on drawing in that air for as long as my heart is beating on this planet.

How right you are about the major surprises that ancestral DNA testing can unearth for some individuals. I’ve read quite a few tales of such and spoken personally with a few people that received some shocking results themselves. In some instances, these tests have even revealed that a person was adopted or didn’t have the father/mother that they’d been raised to believe was their biological parent.

That said, for many (if not most) of us, the results are not likely to be quite that big of a surprise and (they) may help add credence to oral family histories and legends/lore passed down through the generations. I also just find it wildly fascinating to know about one’s past as you realistically can.

If you should ever opt to give ancestral DNA testing a go yourself and would like to chat about your results, I’d be all ears. I can happily talk about genealogy all day and night.

Thank you again deeply. May you have a sunny, beautiful weekend!

♥ Autumn

Thank you very much for your comment, Anne. I can sincerely understand your feelings and viewpoints. There is absolutely no right or wrong approach here at present, just what each person is currently comfortable with.

And, thankfully, there is still a lot of information that can potentially discover about their ancestry without involving a single speck of (their own) DNA into the research process.

Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you’d be interested in a future post here about some of the genealogical research websites that I’ve found most beneficial throughout my many years now of actively working on my own family history. I’d be delighted to share more on that topic here as well.

I hope that your month is off to a positive start and that you have a safe, beautiful July every step of the way.

♥ Autumn

My radiantly beautiful friend, thank you for the heart-touching blessing of your kindness, your sweetness and your immense support.

I’m moved to know that this post resonated with me. The idea for it sprung forth – as many of my post concepts do – like a bolt from above and the words could not spill forth from my fingertips fast enough. The fact that it came to me shortly before Canada Day was quite a lovely spot of serendipity.

As someone whose own ancestry, while essentially all European (and more recently, North America), is fairly diverse, I can relate in part to your own feelings – very much including being pulled towards a multitude of sources and influences, including some that do not necessarily have direct ties to your ancestry.

It’s important to remember that ancestry alone does not influence what we’re drawn towards, though it can – and often does – play a roll there for sure. Some passions are seeded in this lifetime, others in past lives. Some come down through our DNA, others are borne of this existence and may in turn continue on to the generations that we bear (if applicable) or that otherwise follow in your family tree.

One of the most incredible aspects of being alive today is that we have so much information and so many resources available to us to study and be inspired by when it comes to the paths that beckon our name. I think it’s awesome that ancient Greece and its truly iconic pantheon is one of the sources that leaps out at you. While I do not work a great deal with it in a direct way at present, I find it immensely fascinating, too, and have shared a powerful connection with the goddess Selene ever since learning about her in grade school. 🌙

Thank you again deeply for everything. You are a special, awesome soul and a true pleasure to chat with on any topic.

Huge hugs & the loveliest of July blessings,
♥ Autumn