I am fortunate to be related to a prolific genealogist who has documented over 30k graves here, and who instilled a reverence for ancestors in me starting at a very young age. Thank you, Uncle Joe.

For reasons still mysterious to me, I have a strong spiritual connection to some ancestors, and less so with others. While I honor all of the labor and love it took to bring my life into existence on all sides, some photos of ancestors bring me inexplicable tears, and call me to dig deeper. These ancestors tend to be those from my Czechoslovakian and Lemko Ukrainian side. I have visited their villages in modern-day Poland and Slovakia. I want to know their stories, why they left home, and what they left behind.

Other photos of ancestors fill me with a sensation of warmth and brightness, such music therapist Myrtle Fish Thompson. My grandmother often told me that I reminder her of Myrtle.

I am also interested in what I call "ancestors of path" — ancestors who walked the paths I now walk, and who made it easier for me to live as who I am today. This especially includes musicians, "trancestors," and those who fought for freedom. Some of my blood ancestors are also ancestors of path, and I feel a deeper kinship with them.

I have a large extended chosen family, and am an uncle to seven nieces and nephews, only one who is a blood relative. My niece, Bella Bluu Del Missier, died at age 23 — the biggest heart break of my life. Raised only by her mother, she never learned of her ancestry on her indigenous Mexican side. I would like to learn more in her memory.

I was raised with Jewish traditions, and have continued to carry those traditions into my adult life, learning more along the way. Jewish culture is rich with beautiful practices around mourning the dead and honoring the ancestors. I am grateful for the wisdom of traditions such as sitting shiva and honoring yarzheits. I am interested in cultural practices all around the world that relate to death and the honoring of ancestors — from Irish keening to Mexican ofrendas.

For someone my age, I have lost far too many young friends to deaths that can be traced to systemic issues. In their memory, I work to uproot the injustices that continue to lead to unnecessary deaths. I also have loved ones in Ukraine who face the threats of missile attacks. One friend there, artist Davyd Chichkan, was recently killed while defending his home. My interest in ancestry includes all of this, because it is not only blood ancestors who made my life a reality, but also those throughout history who fought for the freedoms that make my life possible today.

I live on the AZ-Mexico border, where unidentified bodies are often found — the remains of those pushed to dangerous terrains by asylum rejections and desperation. Many families never find out what happened to their loved ones. Some people here work tirelessly to find and identify people's missing family members. This work is connected to the work of genealogy in a crucially important way.

I am trained as a grief and death doula, and work to support those preparing for end of life, as well of those who recently lost a loved one. I specifically provide support with what's referred to as "Swedish Death Cleaning," the process of deciding which belongings to let go of in preparation for the end of life. I am interested in the artifacts left behind, and the stories they carry.

I joined Find A Grave because I plan to visit the places in Europe where many of my ancestors are buried, and to document their grave stones when I find them. I am grateful for this resource.