The Rich Blood in My Veins

It’s around me

Rich blood, even though it’s getting older, flows through our veins. I realized this again a few weeks ago when I visited my childhood home for a few days. My local sisters decided to have a cousin gathering since their siblings from Virginia and Nebraska were both home in Maryland at the same time.

These cousins get together occasionally to celebrate family, heritage, and the rich blood in our veins. Did we appreciate this as much when we were younger? Of course not. We were too young to understand the potential we had just because of who we were or where we belonged. 

Now we do; we gathered together, nineteen of us, birthed by five sisters. The oldest of our group is 90 and the youngest is 68. We are diverse: single, married, widowed, aunts, mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. We are family.

Rich blood

Over forty years ago, one of our cousins had a conversation with a businessman.  Clarence* discovered that this cousin was related to some folks he knew. 

“And who else in this community is related to you that I know?” Clarence asked.

My cousin named other folks who owned businesses in the community. There were several, and many of them were ones with whom Clarence dealt on a regular basis. Clarence had no idea this cousin was related to those folks.

My cousin shared, “Clarence sat there at his desk for a couple of minutes with reddened eyes. He said, ‘You just don’t know, do you? You take it for granted, don’t you, because you have always been around it’.”

Perplexed, my cousin asked him, ‘What, Clarence?’

“Clarence replied, ‘The rich blood that flows through your veins! Now I know why you are always “dotting your I’s and crossing your T’s’.”

Heritage

This is heritage. Our ancestors passed it on to us, and we must pass it on to others. There’s rich blood in our veins, not so much because of what we have done, but because of those who have gone before us. Our ancestors lived their lives in a conscionable way.

While none of us has a choice in the heritage we own, we have a choice in the heritage we leave our children. The decisions we make today will affect generations. We choose whether the blood we pass on is rich or barren. We can allow differences and hostility to divide us or we can focus on what draws us together. We can choose to cherish our heritage or squander it. 

May the blood in our veins continue to bless future generations. Even though we have always been around it, let us not miss the beauty and bounty of the rich blood in our veins.

 

*Name is changed.