We are so immersed in history, especially when it is the story of our lives.
I lived for a long time with Martin Pollak's book - "Woman without a Tomb", a story about the writer's family,
his grandfather and his many siblings, their connections and destinies.
Sometimes they are too strange and confusing, very often lost and forgotten.
It was after this book that I didn't want to get lost, I wanted to know more about myself, my blood.
And it was this book that prompted me to discover some illogical, but also quite obvious patterns.
My grandfather has 11 siblings. And so interesting that at some point he was close to each of them, later - with me, his grandson. But I never met most of his siblings.
My nephew asked my father: did you also have a grandfather? He replied: yes, indeed I had.
But dad's grandfather and grandson never knew each other. My father's grandfather died a long time ago and lives only in the memories of my father, when he was still a little grandson.
Interestingly, as a rule, we remember only 5 generations: 2 before, ours, and 2 after us. And at the same time mainly 3 generations are alive.
That is, our children will most likely not know our grandparents, and we are unlikely to live to see great-grandchildren.
My great-grandmother lived for 90 years, and I always felt lucky, because I found as many as 4 generations.
This understanding is so awe-inspiring that it prompted me to learn more about my family's past: their destinies, occupations, hobbies, preferences, and stories.
In this way I understood myself even more.
I am insanely interested in learning the history of the family, learning my blood.
And recently, I finally did a DNA test, which confused me even more.
According to him,
39% I am an Eastern European (Ukraine, Poland)
I have 15% Jewish blood
I also understand 6% of my British descent (relatives moved to Canada)
and then one surprise:
24% - the Balkans and 16% the Baltics.
But it seems to be an even more interesting discovery road.
