Hale Kilinahe: The Journal

September 9, 1998 My latest obsession is researching my family. I feel it's important for Katie to have a sense of her roots. Especially because of how different her parents' backgrounds are. She'll probably never meet her uncle Mike (my brother), and she'll probably only see pictures of her great-grandmother Irene, but I want her to know about them. My grandmother is one of seven children. I didn't know much about any of them until recently when I had a conversation with her. She told me that she had an eighth sibling that died at age two before any of the others were born. I hope I never have to lose a child. I understand in those days it was quite common to lose children to illness, but I literally cannot imagine what my great grandparents must have gone through. It's so easy to say, "Well, they had seven more," but I don't think one can ever replace a child. I think I feel their loss as if it were my own. I'm finding out a lot about my ancestors. As it turns out, somebody from way way way far back was actually Italian and not French, which I guess explains my temper. There are so many parts of my family's history that really embarrass me and I wish I could change them. I envy Ryan's family. Despite his parents' divorce, there isn't much dysfunction or scandal on either side. < BACK | TOP | NEXT >