The Census is important

Selling a home is a waiting game. There is a slim chance that we may be here for a while; as long as you’ll have us, we will be happy.

Thinking about the possibility of change can be both exciting and nerve-wracking. I love things about living here and one of those things has been the overwhelming responses to our family eventually leaving. We feel very loved and I am happy to feel like we haven’t worn out our welcome.

So, in the meantime, we will be here until our house sells.

While living here I have been trying to look into my genealogy a bit. History hasn’t been kind to people like me. No one kept track of my bloodline for generations. I couldn’t tell you if I am related to kings or queens. I cannot tell you what my great-great-great grandfather did with his life. I don’t have a family crest. All I know is that my bloodline is African and that I am likely a descendant of slaves.

Mark had an extra Ancestry DNA test laying around upon me saying I didn’t know what country my ancestors were from, he gifted me the test.

I was originally going to give the test to PJ, thus giving us results for Susan and myself, but then I thought of all the toddler spit I would have to collect and that was not sounding like an awesome idea, so I did it.

By doing the DNA test I found out that 33 percent of my DNA matched the profile from a country (or pair of countries) in Africa called Benin/Togo and that 32 percent was from Cameroon, Congo, and the Southern Bantu Peoples. Also, I am 10 percent Northwestern European.

I look forward to researching more and finding out more about myself.

Prior to the test, the only information that I had was based on the U.S. Census in 1940. I found that my great grandfather and his family lived in Mississippi.

If we were to move sometime in the next few months the one thing I will regret is not listing our family as residents of Malta in the 2020 census. This area has been so great to us and it would feel wrong to say any other place was our home in 2020.

If my great-grandchildren wanted to learn more about my family and me, I would hope that they would see that we lived here during the census.