I am an ancestor archeologist unearthing the treasure my ancestors left me on the physical and spiritual plane.

Many treasures were recently uncovered as my daughter and I excavated
boxes from my Mom's house;

Pictures of family who's stories came to the surface of my mind upon seeing them
Mother's Day cards from a certain little tea priestess and her siblings

Cards from my father to my mother when he was stationed in Korea
in the early 60s before they were married.

Yesterday, we found the most amazing treasure yet
a letter Mom wrote as a young newlywed to her mother shortly after her wedding
expressing her gratitude, love and hopes for the future of the relationship between them.

Grandma had saved the letters, encasing them in contact paper to preserve them. 

How amazing to find this slice of personal history so lovingly saved! 

My daughter sat enraptured as I read the letter to her.
"It's almost like I can hear Grandmere's voice and Great Grandma too.", she said, "They must have been close...like we are."

"Yes they were" I said, silently thanking my mom and grandma for modeling
a healthy mother/daughter relationship. 

And I think that's the important thing about our stories.
It keeps our loved ones memories fresh in our minds.

We gift them a high honor by acknowledging the part they play in our
DNA when we share those stories.

We send a message to them that they mattered. 
Even if it's only to us personally,their lives mattered and they are remembered.

And what is remembered lives.

To be remembered long after I'm gone, I want that for my children and for myself.

My essence will remain in the volumes of journal writings which will
give a deeper look at who I was with the future children of my bloodline
and future Goddess honoring women too.

As I finish my tea this morning, I think I'll write a letter for my children to read
after I've joined our ancestors. 

Then they can be ancestor archeologists too.

How about you, dear one? 
What will you leave behind

I may have mentioned this before but it bears repeating.

My daughter's birth jump started my spiritual quest and prepared me for the journey I'm on with my son.

Both my kids have taught me so much from them choosing me as their mommy.  Here are a few of the things I've learned.

5.  Learning from as many spiritual traditions as possible can change the world. 

This one came from my mother, who was/is a teacher.  How divided people get because of something which can be so uplifting and positive always saddened her. She felt by encouraging us to check out different spiritual traditions as part of life education she could change the world.  I took her advice to heart, trying as many different styled paths as possible and settling in at the spiritual buffet.  Doing so opened my mind to other points of view and changed my world.  This is the same message I share with my own kids.

4.  Know my values so I can align my life with them. 

While in school for my business degree, I had to do an assessment to discover my core values which I hadn't given much thought to until then.   I could see how some of my action were the opposite of what I valued most.  I could see how I was saying one thing and teaching my children another by how I lived.  When I got clear and lived in a more aligned way, I saw a difference in the way I interacted with my kids....huge shift of perceptions happened and I am truly grateful.

3.  As much as I want to teach them, they've come to teach me as well.

We all have our unique gifts we've come into the world to share.  Sharing what we know can open others to unexplored inner worlds.  Many of us weren't given the space or freedom to discover what our gifts are and were settled into mediocre lives.  I don't want that for my kids.  I want them to shine with the brilliance of a million suns. I feel my job is to guide them yet not impose rigid standards based upon what I think they should do with their life. 


2. Involve them in my spiritual quest.

It is said children are sponges soaking up so much from the environments they are exposed to at an early age.  Knowing this jump started me on this path.  I wanted them to  learn from watching how I react or respond to what life has to teach me.  As I work through a new spiritual lessons and apply them to my life, I know my kids will learn it as well.

1. To my kids I am the face of the divine.

I often wonder what a baby sees as their eyes adjust to being on this earthly plane.  I smiled at them, held them close to my heart so they would feel safe and comforted as they got used to being in the big world.  I fully believe I was the first in the flesh experience of Divine love.  Giving myself permission every day to how up as my most radiant Goddess self is the best way I know of to teach my kids about Goddess.