Gratitude Post #21

Today I am grateful for my heritage.  I have great parents and super great grandparents.  I recently read the book "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell and he writes in there about how previous generations and the choices that they have made and what they are exposed to and how they interact with other people affects future generations.  Which is interesting to me and I reflect back on what I picture my grandparents may have gone through when they were my age and the challenges that they may have had.  I think about my grandmas giving birth during the Depression or World War II years and what that must have been like.  I think about my grandpas and what they did to earn money for their families and the struggles that they had during those times.  Then I think about what they were like when I knew them.  My Grandma Reese called me her Black Eyed Pickle Pie, which I believe that this is the reason why I give children nicknames as well.  She was a spunky grandma and was always hiding treats.  I do this too.  I think of her when I use her green mixing bowl.  I think about her making bread and her famous rolls.  My sisters said they knew who got the Grandma Reese gene (no pun intended since her first name was Gene) when I stopped to chat with the Ranger at the Grand Canyon pay station.  She read from the encyclopedia every day, and tat reminds me of my insatiable need to read.  My Grandma Gillette I didn't know well since she died when I was eight, but I became a nurse because of her, so that caring gene must have come down from her.  She always sent us a card for each holiday and I still have some of the cards that she sent me.  But mostly, I am grateful that they were all faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  They all have strong testimonies of the church.  I don't know how difficult it was for them to be faithful members nor do I know if they understood how their faithfulness would affect generations living now and those still to come.