Roots

This particular contemplative reflection was inspired by the day I spent walking around Skagway, Alaska.  My Great Grandfather on my dad's side of the family spent time in Skagway before heading out on the Chilkoot Trail during the days of the Yukon Gold Rush.  We still have his diary of his days in the Yukon and I was able to read it before our trip to Alaska.  My day walking the ground he potentially could have walked got me reflecting on my own sense of rootedness and how it has developed.  

This poem seems a fitting way to end my journey back over my week in Alaska finding well established roots and creating some new ones as well.

Roots

Some have roots in place.

Some have roots in the passing of tales.

Both create a connection that draws one

Deep into a sense of belonging.

My roots come in the passing of tales.

These tales I pass on to my daughter,

Helping her to create her own roots.

These are more than stories.

They are the DNA of our family core values.

The DNA of

                     Hope

                     Faith

                     Strength

                     Risk

                     Tenacity

                     Family

It is these things that hold strong in my center.

That are my guides,

Even with out my awareness.

Having had my feet in the place of ancestors and history,

my awareness of my own rootedness dawns clearer and deeper.

With the awareness comes a settledness that I have not known before.

No more regret for rootedness of place.

Instead a prayer of thanksgiving for a rootedness that can go with me

Where ever life may take me.