Who are You and Where are You From?!

posted in: Gratitude | 0
This was a surprise visit with cousins I had never met! L-R back; Nancy; Kathy, David and John

front; Me, Mom, Marsha

Proverbs 17:6

Children’s children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.


It’s been crazy busy around here lately. You too? Yes, it is the end of the year, the holiday prep, and all the get together’s for every organization, job, church and volunteer organization you are involved with…even the YMCA is having a ‘Silver Sneakers’ luncheon. While they are a great time, and such fun to get together, they have taken time away from my writing…and other pre-holiday activities, like craft sales! LOL

Seriously though, these get togethers are the stuff that make the days so special! I was blessed this week to go out to lunch and catch up with two very special friends. I went to our church’s ‘Living Nativity” last night (still going on, by the way see FB Servant Church of the Abington’s). It is a beautiful reminder of why we celebrate this holy season. Tomorrow we will travel to see our grandson in his very first play; ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Jr.’. More about that after I see it!

Last week we saw another friend’s son in ‘Beauty and the Beast’. Keanu made a great Gaston! It is a joy to watch middle school kids get their eyes off a screen and on a screenplay!

The event I want to talk to you about today, however, is so different from any other event that we usually participate in. It started with a phone call over a month ago from someone we did not know! He told us several things about the family and introduced himself-as a cousin! We were flabbergasted, to say the least!

David had done his research on the family and wanted to come to visit my mother, his great-aunt. Of course, I wanted to meet him. When he was able to come from Binghamton, he brought with him his sister Marsha. He had already been in touch with other cousins he had recently gotten to know no, from Endicott. When those cousins heard of this gathering they invited a local cousin, John. The youngest of the bunch!

It was a blessing to meet with these people and share our lives. Some similarities, some things different. All things part of our own family unique history. One of the most treasured pieces of research that I learned is- while our family has always identified as Russian, that is not the truth! I was quite relieved to find out that our family is Carpatho-Rusyn. Maybe it doesn’t sound much different to you, but the difference is huge! The family did NOT live in Russia as previously taught. They came from a ‘settlement’ in the base of the Carpathian Mountains. We knew the family was poor, but this region was extremely so. It was not an established nation and the ‘powers over them’ forced them to claim that their church was ‘Carpatho Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic’. This was the information we had always used to identify ourselves as Russian. Not any more!

You might be wondering what was the difference? Well, I can sum it up with their spunk, their grit and tenacious spirit used to get them from poverty to freedom. My cousin, David’s grandfather told him, ‘I don’t want to go to war fighting for someone else’s country’. That was the point when he made the decision to come to USA. My grandfather, David’s grandfather’s brother, had come several years earlier. Their sons, my uncles, later fought for THIS country!

Both brothers went where there was work for them. One on the Railroad in PA, one in Binghamton NY. Both brothers raised their families in the Russian church and bore the chagrin of the Russian reputation for years. Now, the brothers and their wives are gone. Most of their children are gone. My mother remains the anchor holding the cousins together! We always knew the people who came from ‘the old country’ were tough stock. We just didn’t know how tough, or why.

I thank the Lord that before my mom passed into eternity, she was able to connect with people who share her name-and her heritage!

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