It's In My Blood.

 Who Effects Me and Who I am Today?

  

     In the different branches throughout my family, many of my members choose to remain quiet about their childhood and past. I have never known how to go about asking questions and trying to put the pieces together. Hurt has been a huge factor in my family that has led to the closed off lives they live. By having this project as an excuse to pry, paved a way for me to ask in private the many questions I had been dying to know. “Who am I really?” has been a distinct question in my heart now that I am growing older.  I had never thought that my ancestors had an impact on who I am now but in reality they left many foot prints. 

 
 My grandfather is Thomas Marion Henderson Jr. born in 1937 and  grew up in Jefferson, Georgia. His mother and father were Frances Hale Henderson and Thomas Marion Henderson. Both of them managed to  pass away when my grandfather was in his early teens which left him with faint memories and not remembering the specific dates of when they were born nor when they died. They were hard working cotton farmers who also had managed to get an education. My great-grandfather went to Clemson for two years while my great-grandmother went to the University of Georgia. 

          















      It's Great to Be a Georgia Bulldog! 

If you have pulled in my driveway then you would know in an instant that my family are huge University of Georgia fans. We have always had season tickets and grew up tailgating four to six hours before the game even starts. My grandpa has kept the same seats in Stanford Stadium for the past thirty years. I did not know until talking with my grandpa that if I had gone to Georgia then I would have been the fifth generation. Since I was born I have always been a Georgia Bulldog. My car now that I have is bright red with all Georgia Bulldog accessories in tow. Being that many of my ancestors went to Georgia secures the fact that I am a Georgia Bulldog through and through. I have always wondered how my family became so obsessed and now the mystery is solved. 

 My great-grandfather’s father-in-law, John Hale was in highway construction which provided the opportunity for him to be the first to pave U.S 129, the road that leads from Gainesville to Athens, Ga. Another connection that my family never knew. We have traveled U.S 129 countless times going to football games, not knowing that our ancestor made it possible.

    A Woman's Place is on a Horse

        
      John also, was one of the largest land owners in Banks County that now has provided the land that my grandpa now lives on. I have grown up visiting and staying weekends at the farm. I am such a farm girl that loves the land and the adventure it provides. My grandpa had been around horses since he was seven years old. He decided to start showing horses in 1978 when my dad was around fifteen years old. He worked from sun up to sun down cleaning stalls, exercising the horses, working on their performance, and fixing fences. I now to this day am completely head over heels for horses. I have asked for a horse since I was two years old. I do not think there is a more beautiful creature! I have always ridden and tried my best to ride just like my dad. I hope to one day have my own land with my own horses. 

     Continuing with my love for animals and wide open spaces, brings me to see that another part of my family has influenced in me in who I am today. My mom’s dad’s Bob Turner and his mother, my great grandmother, Lucille Turner. They live in Cleveland, Georgia where the air is fresher and time is a little slower.  I grew up making the long drive from my city home to the mountains of Georgia. I was outside for hours climbing trees, exploring old buildings, running in the pastures with horses, and enjoying home cooked food.    

    I have loved seeing the things I love and care about so much are the same as my ancestors that have walked before me. I never realized the connections until now. I never knew why I was so drawn to these things but now I see it's just simply in my blood.