Inspiration: The Family Tree

Norman Rockwell's "A Family Tree" (stared at endlessly by Denos siblings)

I mentioned that language acts like "caffeine" for my creativity, so I wanted to share another source I draw from: family trees. They've always been inspiration to me...not quite sure why. Perhaps it was because growing up, we didn't have a lot of TV–we had grandmas with good stories. I think I'm mostly fond of family trees because I love CHARACTERS and the elements (historical/genealogical/magical) that join to create them. I love to think about lineage when I'm creating a character...


Plus, family trees are chock full of my favorite things, like...

STORIES!

I love that each of us is a perfectly particular culmination of little stories! In researching my own tree last week, I found out that my husband Matt's ancestor had a storied journey to America on a ship called the "Truelove" (really!) and most folks from his mother's side were pilgrims, some settled Plymouth. Also just discovered Matt's a direct descendant of John Proctor of the Salem Witch Trials! (Woah.) Remember Arthur Miller's The Crucible? As for me, my Scottish side is part of the Clan Munroe which still keeps its Foulis Castle in Scotland (back to the 11th century!) What was it like to live there then? Can't wait to go and see one day...lots of stories in the walls of a castle.

Foulis Castle today

AND NAMES!

I love the names in family trees too...what were the lives and faces like attached to those names? It's funny how a name is borrowed by families for a time to brand our "looks" and faces, but they duck and weave in and out of family trees, sometimes into obscurity, sometimes enduring for centuries in records. We say things like "Those eyes are Anna's! That expression is so Denos, those EARS! The belong to the Smith side." I love how character BECOMES a name. Names are like little threads you can pull on to unravel time...


So , when I should be preparing for Paris, I've been using any free time to find the elusive Italian/French ancestor who gave Matt his last name (and my married name) : Cesare Perlot. He lived way up in the hills of Fai Della Paganella, in Trento, Italy, but we cannot figure out how his french name "Perlot" came populate northern Italy! The legend goes: two Parisian Perlot brothers in Napolean's army ventured over the Alps and winter-camped in Fai...(and I'm guessing they met some lovely Italian ladies and settled down due to the concentration of Perlots there today.) Any Perlots out there with a lead? Maybe a hint waits in Paris...

Matt's grandma, Anna.

And, Denos? My (also mysterious) great grandfather, Andrew Denos, came over from Greece, and wouldn't tell a soul who/what/ where/when/why. I'm left with only his last name and 3 seconds of his slow-motion wink to the panning cameraman in a flickering 1950's wedding reception reel...as if he's saying, "You have a lonnnnng search ahead of you kid!" Another mystery.

CHARACTER DESIGN!


The physical inheritance passed through a family tree is maybe the neatest part to me, though these things are less documented in family trees than names and dates. Yet, the eyes you use, the nose you wear, maybe even the stubbornness you possess traveled across oceans too, through stories and bloodlines to become you. The idea of "ancestors" makes me imagine too: They're with us in our genetics in a way...it's like a legacy in our bones every day. Isn't that kind of cool? We are what's survived of them as we move ahead into our own personal legends. The way I imagine a family tree: generations behind us stretching out like flickering tails (tales) of two-by-two disappearing into the distance, kind of like this:


LOVE!

Maybe it's the loving, progressive perspective I receive from family trees that gets me. It makes the whole planet feel smaller. Our stories make far away lands and foreign languages feel like home; we become more closely knit than we can ever know; it makes peace feel more possible. We extend our branches outward, weave our stories in and out of eachothers', light up different parts of the globe for a little while making those places loved. Family trees always hint at something eternal and magic, something progressing and alive. They just get my imagination going. Maybe someday I'll know what to make of it, what to DO with it. A book? A painting? A crazy mural? Hm.

So where did you come from? Does your name have a story?