RHYS BOWEN: I’m writing this from a beach in Hawaii. (This is a consolation trip after the same cruise had to be cancelled four years in a row, including having to cancel two days before we were due to fly in March when we both came down with a horrible virus)
It's not a bad consolation. Not a bad place to work and one of the perks of a writer, that I can write from anywhere in the world. As a lifelong traveler I found the Covid years really stressful. Stuck at home. Nowhere to go. No chance encounters to spark creative juices. No research trips for future books. Now the world is opening up again and I’m free to spread my wings again. Yipee.
I often wonder where this innate wanderlust came from. My family lived in quiet country villages for generations. I can trace both sides back to around 1600, living their peaceful lives. Except for one great grandmother: Josephine. She was French. She married my Welsh great grandfather when she was 17. He was 34 at the time. She produced 14 children, outlived my great grandfather, married again. Outlived him. And when she was over eighty she sailed out to Australia to be with her daughter. I know nothing of her background, what part of France, what she was doing in England or Wales, and how she ever met an older Welshman. And anyone who could tell me is long dead. But she fascinates me. I stare at her photograph, wondering if I see myself in her at all. And I think I owe my wanderlust to her.
Because it was definitely in my genes somewhere. The first time I went to a beach, about the age of two, I was told that I headed for the water, wearing only my sun hat. I started to walk into the waves. My mother waited and watched to see what I would do. It was only when I was up to my neck and still going that she rescued me. Clearly I needed to see what was on the other side of that sea.
As soon as I learned about the rest of the world I knew I had to travel. I joined the Girl Guides because they had a trip planned to Belguim. I went to stay with a girl in Austria, crossing the continent alone when I was 13. And I was always fascinated by planes. On Sundays my brother and I could choose a family day out. His were always to a zoo or a beach. Mine always to London airport. There was an observation tower in those days. I’d stand up there and listen to the commentary: Now arriving an Air India super constellation from Bombay! And I’d watch that dot in the sky grow into a tiny plane and then it would come roaring in to land. That giant, unwieldy bird had flown all the way from India. How exciting was that?
Years have passed and I still get that thrill every time I watch a plane take off or land. It’s almost magic to me. And small wonder that I married a man who worked for an airline (and yes, we got free flights for many years). I’ve traveled much of the world, regret the places I haven’t been, and still want to see more. It was definitely in my genes from somewhere, wasn’t it?
Do you have some part of you that you know must be an inherited trait? I do know that I inherited the creative gene: grandfather orchestra conductor, mother and aunt both studied piano to performance level, uncle art director for ad agency, brother also ran ad agencies and great aunt was a natural story teller, entertaining me during my early years with real stories of the family and made-up ones. So it was also destined that I become a writer, I suppose.
How about you? Do you have an inherited trait, or a trait that is so far removed from your family that you wonder if you were a changeling? Those of you who write: when did you know you were going to be a write
Rhys, you have so much talent in so many areas, drawing, story telling, music, more! My talents are not as obvious and I can't think of one that would prove to my ancestors that I represent the best of them.
ReplyDeleteI love your story of Josephine, Rhys. She sounds amazing. And your creative gene is on display!
ReplyDeleteMy parents basically didn't travel outside California, but Daddy would record the BBC and Radio Australia broadcasts (on his reel-to-reel) to keep up on international news. His mother drove across country with her younger brother (and their father driving the other car with mother and four sisters) at age 18 in 1918. My grandfather did a European tour with his older sister when he was 16, and I still have his diaries.
So when I, at barely seventeen, got the offer to go to Brazil for an exchange student year, I was itching to go, and it started a lifetime of travel and living abroad.
I wrote tons of fiction as a child, but then set the practice aside for several decades. I now wish I hadn't! I would not say art and music are in my genes, but writing is. My father exchanged long, funny, creative letters for many years with his brother-in-law (who is an author and journalist), and wrote them to me once I became an adult. Uncle Dick, now 96, saved the letters and has been mailing me packets of them in the last year.
Sorry for the dissertation!
Edith, this is all wonderful stuff and exactly the family I suspected you came from. I went to school in Austria for a while. It was a great experience for me. Rhys
DeleteMy family didn't travel, couldn't afford to, but I've longed to go to the places in the books I've read. It didn't happened until I discovered my crime fiction family and now I try to go to all the convention, especially places I know I would never visit if it wasn't being held in that location.
ReplyDeleteThat’s so true, Dru. I’ve also been to cities I’d never have thought of visiting! Rhys
DeleteRhys, Josephine's story is worthy of a book! Dru, my immediate family didn't travel, either, although aunts and uncles lived all over the world.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and his brother both worked for the railroad; my dad was a telegrapher for Pennsylvania and Baltimore &Ohio, both of which ran through our town, and my uncle was an executive with B&O. Uncle Bill was a great one for long car trips and maps, and maybe I got my love of geography and driving crisscross in the US from him. My late brother might have gotten it, too. He wanted to be a long haul trucker as a kid, and he lived his dream for a few years.
Both my great grandmothers on my mother's side probably sent their fabric and sewing genes on to me. One owned a dry goods store, and the other one was a fantastic seamstress. And gardener, come to think of it! Her peonies were epic.
There's an article in today's NYT about Camille Pissarro's great great granddaughter teaching nude drawing, coincidentally.
DeleteYou had a lot of good talents to inherit there, Karen!
DeleteHaving writing in my genes gave me the courage to start writing... because it doesn't come naturally to me. AND because it set the bar so damned high. What I always always always wanted to do was teach... so fortunate that I've been able to combine the two and teach writing.
ReplyDeleteYour students are fortunate, too!
DeleteI have to agree that I’d have been daunted by a bar as high as yours. But you accepted the challenge and it has also made you a fantastic writing teacher. Rhys
DeleteThere's musical talent in my family, but I only got enough of it to enjoy and appreciate music. I'm delighted that my niece inherited the musical gene and has a beautiful voice. Perhaps one "trait" or inclination that my twin and I both inherited from our mom is a passion for justice.
ReplyDeleteBest trait of all. ( Rhys)
DeleteBoth of my parents had artistic talent. Mom would dash of caricatures on the backs of napkins whenever we ate out, and dad illustrated our books and movies on a huge chalkboard in our bedroom. I drew at an earlier age, but gave it up in favor of writing. My brother took the same path, but he directed his writing talent to marketing and became a nearly end of the era mad man.
ReplyDeleteI knew from my earliest childhood that I wanted to be a writer. It was simply something I did.
Same for me, Kait. I just always made up stories
DeleteWhat a lovely post, Rhys! I can just see you as a toddler in a sun hat determination in every step. I, too, am a wanderer - so much to see on this fascinating blue marble. My mom is a traveler so I definitely get it from her. As for the writing, all of my relatives were artists of one sort or another, although mostly the visual arts. I’m the first writer. I have a great-grand named Josefa who was a wild one - there must be something in the name…
ReplyDeleteSee, I knew we were related! Maybe it was the same great grandmother who also went to America!
DeleteI love these stories, Rhys! And I hope you are having a glorious time. You know, my biological father, was a writer, and a reporter. He was the music critic for the old Chicago Daily News, for years, and also had a radio show teaching about classical music. He also wrote two non-fiction books published by the University of Chicago press on American music. They are still used as textbooks. He wrote essays, and then, as he got older, poetry. It’s funny, because my parents were divorced, and I did not grow up with him past the age of six or so, when he left to be a foreign service officer, and traveled the world. But I am still amazed that I am a reporter and a writer and I don’t think that could be coincidental. (he and I always stayed close, though) But the thing that is so odd about it is that I never thought oh, I am following in Dad’s footsteps. One of my grandfathers owned a chain of department stores, and the other one sold cars, we think… And it is certain that I am selling things now, right? So yes, somehow, it comes together.
ReplyDeleteThe marketing gene ! Certainly helps when it comes to promotion!
DeleteLove this, Rhys!
ReplyDeleteAmazing that you can trace your family back to the 1600s! Regarding your French great grandmother Josephine, have you thought about taking an Ancestry DNA or 23andme DNA? It would be interesting to find your French relatives. I took both and discovered that I have several 4th cousins living in England and Scotland. Most of my DNA matches are 3rd to 8th cousins.
Inherited traits? I found that I enjoy cooking and baking. My Mom and several relatives love to bake and cook.
My grandmother had a talent for conjuring punny words and my cousin inherited that. My grandfather's hobby was drawing and he was quite the artist when he was not practicing law. My aunt and cousins inherited that talent. I can doodle and that is it!
My great grandparents were proficient in Spanish, French, German, Italian, English, Latin and Aramaic. When I was a young child, I wanted to learn the French language. Someone told me that I needed to learn the English language first. LOL. I learned Sign Language when I was a young child and several relatives learned Sign Language too. And now I am learning the Norwegian language.
Writing is quite a talent. I always liked to write. My parents were teachers and they are still teaching even after retirement.
My uncle, by marriage (he married my Aunt), is quite the Computer wizard.
And I took to computers like duck to water. I think it has more to do with "making lemonade out of lemons" situation because growing up with a profound hearing loss, I cannot use the phone as easily as other people can. I use technology to communicate like commenting here online. Texting and emailing are great for people like me who cannot use the phone. With FaceTime, that is another great way to communicate.
Wow! This was sooo long!
Diana
My son did his DNA and all it show s is nearly all British Isles. I would guess my great grandmother must have been a Breton, hence the same sort of DNA
DeleteI inherited Mom's musical talent; loved music but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. And I certainly inherited some of Dad's traits. I don't know how many times growing up I was told "you're just like your father!" And it wasn't usually meant as a compliment. Probably had to do with being stubborn.
ReplyDeleteWhat a fun post, Rhys. My parents loved to travel and I definitely inherited some of that gene, but my daughter has real wanderlust. Maybe you two are somehow related! My dad was very creative. Although he had almost no formal education, he wrote all his own advertising for his business, and he loved to read and wrote poetry. I often wonder what he might have done if he'd had different opportunities.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have times where my own company and a book is plenty, I inherited from my real estate broker father the ability (or need) to start up a conversation with others, including strangers. I can usually find a commonality between us, but my father was a master at connecting to other people the person knew or was related to. Of course, we lived in a small town, but I've seen my father do this in a bigger, different city, too. My love of learning and reading comes from my mother, who never thought me sitting and reading was a waste of time. Bless her. I also inherited from her the need to make sure everyone was taken care of in different ways, including food, comfort, and safety precautions.
ReplyDeleteI feel as if I can almost quote Kathy's post from above: I inherited sociability from my father and a love of reading from my mother, a love of learning new things (including finding out about new cultures by traveling ) from both of them. Of course, inheritance isn't only positive. My father could not draw at all, and neither can I--in fact, he lacked skilled with his hands, and so do I. My father could also snap at people occasionally and hurt their feelings--I inherited that, too. But that's no excuse not to try to control it. Genes are interesting things, aren't they?
ReplyDelete