Folding Time

Heritage Journal – Intro & Pedigree

Posted on by Melissa Willis

Welp, after a nasty bought with COVID and a little recovery/catch up time, I finally carved out a couple of hours to sit with my new heritage journal, write out a few words on the first two pages, and complete the first spread! I’m quite pleased with how it turned out.

What all does it include?

  • Photos of Scotland, England, and Ireland (the lands of the majority of my Ancestors)

  • A map of Santa Fe (where I was born and raised)

  • A DNA helix

  • A copy of my pedigree through my 2x great grandparents…

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Integration & Healing Through Creative Journaling

Posted on by Melissa Willis

It’s been a little over three years since I confirmed my biological father and half of my genetics…

Since I found my three half-siblings…

Since I learned so many details about so many strangers who I never knew existed and who are my kin.

I spent months upon months talking to siblings and aunts and uncles and cousins…

Gathering data and facts…

Staring into photos and details

Looking for all of the pieces of a massive puzzle that I hoped would come together succinctly to make it all of this history make sense in my head and my heart in present time.

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1256 Lexington Ave, New York City

Posted on by Melissa Willis

My childhood was peppered with stories of my mom’s own childhood growing up in New York City. She’d tell me all about the sights and smells and sounds, about pounding the pavement and watching the world go by from the roof tops. She always tried to give me a sense of direction by including cross streets and landmarks.

NYC was big and wild and so very full of all of her adolescent adventures (the good, the bad, and the ugly) in addition to being a world apart from my own upbringing or understanding.

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Moving Pebbles: On Midlife & My NPE Experience

Posted on by Melissa Willis

There’s something almost hypnotic about the way ripples expand in water when its stillness is disturbed by even the smallest movement, the tiniest pebble, isn’t there?

We spend our lives being told not to make waves, cause chaos. We’re told to hold steady, keep our heads down, and maintain the peace, whether it be in the family, at school, or in the workforce. And while this works for some longer than for others, there’s something to be said for shaking things up… for stepping into one’s power in ways previously unimaginable. Sometimes the catalysts are external, and sometimes they’ve been inside us all along.

This is the story of my NPE experience.

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The Search for Delia Duval: Two

Posted on by Melissa Willis

The search for Delia Duval, one of my great grandmothers, continues!

As I mentioned in my last post, I reached out to several kin directly as well as messaged a handful of people on Ancestry.com. Some of the Ancestry connections were DNA matches and a few simply had Delia in their tree and I was curious about their connection.

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