And, and, and...

Have you ever stopped to ponder your legacy? No, not the lucky few of you who have inherited castles and estates and millions in the bank. Rather, the legacy that's flowed down the family tree through parent after parent, until it got to you.

Here's an example.

My grandpa is a farmer, a handyman, a builder, a man of the earth. He's got a dry, strange sense of humour and can do anything he puts his hand to. My mom had a love of nature, a curiosity for the small and the big things, creativity in every fibre of her being, and a stubborn determination. I inherited much of both - the hands that get themselves dirty and do hard work, the love of soil and growing things, fascination with nature, and stubborn set of the chin. My son has inherited a lot of these - and then had me add in things like an awareness of environmental issues, a love of archeology and ancient sites that I got from my dad, plus an interest in the strange and unusual like ley lines, standing stones and cryptozoology. He's also got his gran's creativity, his great-gramps's love of nature...

You see how it goes? You get this AND that AND the next thing, all inherited without you even realizing it.

It makes me wonder what's been passed down from generations even further back. What quirks and characteristics have I got that seeped through the gene pool? How much is environment, and how much simply bred into me?

I wonder...

(And yes, it's a pity that no ancestor has left me a castle - but I guess my ancestors were more of the serf varitey than the nobleman)