What have I received from my ancestors?

Ooh, more than I ever could have bargained on. I was adopted as a newborn and only last year through DNA testing, the uncovering of records, and contact with my biological family did I begin to know what I’d inherited from my ancestors. Good health predisposition, a creative stubborn mind, and also some challenges. In some cases, I was almost identical, especially in appearance, tenacity, and a great sense of daring and adventure, bohemianism, altruism, and yet a deep pragmatism. I also found what I had thankfully escaped through adoption. Mental illness, addiction, suicides, instability, and rejection to name a few. Gaining these previously unknown pieces in a very sparse jigsaw puzzle has been so helpful. It is clearer what came from my biological family, what was nurtured through my adoptive family and their lineage, as well as my personal choices and experiences. Most of my life I believed I belonged to no one and identified with no particular race, ilk, or tribe, instead I felt a empathetic connection to humanity as a whole. I loved that as I carried no ancestral crimes or trauma and often told my daughter it all starts with us as to how we relate to the world. Today, I understand, with the newly incorporated picture of my background, that no matter what hand I was dealt in life, be it a good one, a challenging one, a multifaceted one, it’s what I do with it/them that makes all the difference. With that said, I am truly humbled for all that I’ve been gifted genetically, environmentally, through choice and attitude, and how they have served me so well. It certainly has been an adventure to date.