Ancestral Pilgrimage Part 10: Home

In June of 2022, I embarked on an Ancestral Pilgrimage searching for my distant European roots. Below are my poetic reflections from the tenth and final part of my journey returning home.

For the first time since I can remember I am homesick

Homesick for a home I don’t have

Boarding the plane bound for Albuquerque

Turtle Island isn’t a simple place to call home

But where is?

And…

We have our shit

Just like everyone

I want to be a part of mending it

I'm a product of it too

What a jewel from my pilgrimage

A tinge of pride

Not the cringy dangerous nationalism that starts wars

But the kind that comes from knowing who we are

Even if I can’t explain it

and still have no answers

Something healed in me

Whether it was from the earth drinking my offerings

Or my prayers

Or my song

Or nothing at all

A rare 30 minute phone call with my Dad

He says “With all you’ve seen at your age I’m interested to see what you think.”

He’s so rock and roll

I'm proud to come from him

Of course it’s complicated

But it’s beautiful too

Saraha said,

"Sacred places, temples, they are all here. I have visited them in my travels, but I have not seen a place of pilgrimage more blissful than the body."

Home I’m going home I need a land to heal my soul

Take me home

Take me home

Over the green green hills and far away

Thank you for reading my Ancestral Pilgrimage, friends. It would mean the world to hear from you. Please respond to this post/email with any reflections. What did my words have you thinking about in your own life and ancestry? What questions do you have for me? What do you want more of?

I published these short musings for anyone like me searching for someone who had embarked on an Ancestral Pilgrimage before. May these words contribute to our collective remembering that we belong to each other.