I am a Descendant of Carrie Delph

    I am a descendant of Carrie Delph. She never knew me, and I never knew her in the flesh, but I’ve seen pictures; I’ve heard stories; and I see her flashing eyes and hear her laughter in the faces of my living aunts and uncles and cousins. She was tough, she was funny, and she was wild in her heart.

     These characteristics please me because, as a woman, it is nice to know that my gender and my blood line have a predecessor who was the giver of my own vitality and animated view of the world. It is nice to know that my adventurous spirit – certainly a gift from my father – has female connections. (Note: Carrie Delph is my father’s mother.)

     Carrie was widowed in her early 20s, left the single mother of 4 young children. Then she married an older man, the single father of 5 (looking for an adjective here ??) teenagers. Neither birth control nor assertive women were in vogue at the time, so it is not surprising that Carrie went on to birth seven more babies.

     She lived in a tiny house, plagued with poverty, and yet, she laughed. She found joy in her children. She bound them together with love and tied the bundle with strong cords of loyalty. Thin layers of my own life experience have built up an awareness, understanding, and appreciation of this loving act of Carrie Delph’s. The bundles she made are unbroken; they have defied the finality of death and miraculously, they have expanded to embrace new generations.

     Once when I was feeling terribly lonely, I confided in my father about the pain of solitary isolation. He sympathized, then retorted, “But you are never truly alone; you are born into a family and you die out of a family.”

     I was in the first stage of self-discovery at the time and what I was finding in myself did not much resemble what I saw in my immediate family, so what he said didn’t make much sense to me. Since then, I have strayed from my family periodically over the years and each time, they let me go. But always I have returned, and each time I did so, my return was like that of the prodigal son. Though where I had been and what I had done and seen changed me, my family remained constant in their warm, welcoming cushion of absolute love.

     And through the years, I have cycled in and out of seasons of more concentrated self discovery. It’s like a slow motion tumbling through a cylinder that is my own life journey. It is a magnified and stretched out version of the birth canal, perhaps, because it is full of the legacy of all those who lived before me who, in their own genetic, psychic, and spiritual make up, built for me this canal that my experience is destined to travel.

     Now in mid life, I take a moment to view my eclectic, eccentric, and somewhat exotic collection of experiences, friendships, thoughts and ideas, and discover comfort and confidence in who I am. I am a descendant of Carrie Delph! I belong. I belong to the family of Carrie Delph.

 

Shhh! Do you hear her delightful laughter?

 

    We all carry pebbles of Carrie’s mischievous antics in the pockets of our souls. We wear her smile and we ride on those family bonds she built for us. I implore you, all descendants of Carrie Delph, to touch those pebbles left in the crevices of your being by the wake of her living days; touch them with the fingertips of your conscious mind. Yes, touch them from time to time so you will always remember who you are. Yes, touch them and I promise you, you will hear her laughter.

 

Comments

[Jordan Retro 8]

Your ideas are really specific, I assist you. I imagine you should be described as a clever man. So I would like to know you.

[River]

Thank you Jordan, please feel free to share more!