One fall day...

(taken 10 minutes away from my hometown)

I remember this one breezy fall day when I was so happy to live in my hometown.

I was picking apples with my mom and sister and my mind kept going back to the people that lived in this town years before I was even close to being born. I thought about how grateful I was for my ancestors for being so hardworking and settling here. I wished for a little bit that I could go back then--to a time when life was simpler. Back to a time where you worked hard all day and when you finally came inside for the night you were so tired you couldn't think straight. Back to a time where when you sat down for a meal everything on the table was made or grown by you. Then I thought of all the stories that I've heard of my grandparents and ancestors.

I had a great-great grandma who turned down an Indian chief's offer of marriage. He held a knife to her throat threatening her that if she refused again he would kill her. Her response was "Go ahead and kill me if you dare. I am not afraid of you and would rather die than consent to be your wife. If you kill me my sweetheart will know it and he will hunt you down and kill you as he would a dog. now go ahead if you dare."

I had many ancestors who were pioneers. After their long journey from New England to The West they were asked by Brigham Young to settle parts of New Mexico and Arizona. And they did.

I have grandparents who lived through the depression and raised eight children while moving from town to town and still kept their family together.

I had a ornery Texan grandpa who when he was first married and had one small child he lived a in a tent for months because they had no other place to go. His wife, my grandmother, had to change the baby under a blanket at night because it was so cold. This same grandpa was so ornery that he wouldn't let the Lord take him for 97+ years. But on this same fall breezy day he went the way he would have wanted to go. Fishing, what he loved best, with his family.

I thought about all these amazing people and I thought again about my wish.

Am I as brave as they were?

Could I even survive back then?

If I were faced with the same trials would I have triumphed over them as well as they had?

I guess I'll never know the answer to that question. I do know that because of the great ancestors and parents that I have that I can do anything. I can be brave like them. I can do amazing things because I am their decedent. They left such a great legacy for me and I will strive daily to live in a way that would make them proud.