Both sides of my family have been interested in genealogy for centuries. As a result it is sort of difficult not to be interested in our heritages (and it is multiple heritages). There are several books written specifically on branches of the family, one of which is even available on Amazon.com as we speak. We even pop up in some fiction – the character of Natty Bumpo in The Last of the Mohicans was based on an ancestor of my mother’s.
In addition, my dad is spending his retirement writing the newest book on the family history and even sprang for one of those DNA tests, which confirmed certain family rumors. He also discovered the truth behind a few family stories that explained to where some of his uncles disappeared.
Because of the way I look I tend to focus a bit more on the Scottish and German aspects, but we also have a very strong tendency that goes back almost to the 12th century of being “different.” We could read when others usually couldn’t, we stuck with less popular religions when it might have been wiser to go with the flow, we survived events that certainly should have killed us and did kill a lot of other folks, we have a lot of strong women in our family tree, and not a few “black sheep.” We also tended to marry people that didn’t look like our immediate family.
At last count my immediate family is made up of three races, five major religions, and thirteen ethnic groups. That means we never met a holiday we didn’t like, and we have extremely wide-ranging tastes in food. Also, we all look different from each other, and tend to be either really tall or really short. Very few of us are of average stature.