I know it’s been a while since I posted, but when I’m doing research for my latest project, sometimes I become “blocked” so to speak, on the actual story.  Slowly, I’m traversing the Andes and sailing the oceans to the inner depths of my mind.

I wanted to share that writing a story of your ancestors dating back to the 1700s is quite a challenge.  Still, thank you in advance for reading my post, and keep me in your thoughts and prayers that my dream is fulfilled in due time.  I encourage you to follow your passion as well.

Chapter One: Mascorro-1700’s

The Bride Confesses Her Love

She^[a]

² Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth!
For your love is better than wine;
³     your anointing oils are fragrant;
your name is oil poured out;
therefore virgins love you.
⁴ Draw me after you; let us run.
The king has brought me into his chambers.

Others

We will exult and rejoice in you;
we will extol your love more than wine;
rightly do they love you.

She

⁵ I am very dark, but lovely,
O daughters of Jerusalem,
like the tents of Kedar,
like the curtains of Solomon.
⁶ Do not gaze at me because I am dark,
because the sun has looked upon me.
My mother’s sons were angry with me;
they made me keeper of the vineyards,
but my own vineyard I have not kept!
⁷ Tell me, you whom my soul loves,
where you pasture your flock,
where you make it lie down at noon;
for why should I be like one who veils herself
beside the flocks of your companions?

Solomon and His Bride Delight in Each Other

He

⁸ If you do not know,
O most beautiful among women,
follow in the tracks of the flock,
and pasture your young goats
beside the shepherds’ tents.

⁹ I compare you, my love,
to a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots.
¹⁰ Your cheeks are lovely with ornaments,
your neck with strings of jewels.

Others

¹¹ We will make for you^[b] ornaments of gold,
studded with silver.

She

¹² While the king was on his couch,
my nard gave forth its fragrance.
¹³ My beloved is to me a sachet of myrrh
that lies between my breasts.
¹⁴ My beloved is to me a cluster of henna blossoms
in the vineyards of Engedi.

He

¹⁵ Behold, you are beautiful, my love;
behold, you are beautiful;
your eyes are doves.

She

¹⁶ Behold, you are beautiful, my beloved, truly delightful.
Our couch is green;
¹⁷     the beams of our house are cedar;
our rafters are pine.

 (Song of Solomon, Book 1, ESV)

All things exist as they should. All love stories begin with a thought. It’s been a year since Sadie traveled to Old Jerusalem and found her “true north.” Her novel All Roads Lead to Heaven has been published with fantastic reviews. Still, she longs to write that love story gnawing at her.

She believes it will continue to give her answers to her own story, which did not begin with her. Yes, it’s in her memory and genes, but it didn’t start with her.  Researching her ancestors since she subscribed to Ancestry,  she discovered they originated primarily from the Iberian Peninsula and Indigenous Americas.  Later, communicating with several of her cousins who found her on Ancestry, she discovered many hidden gems about their family.

“Don’t move an ancient boundary stone set up by your ancestors” Proverbs 22:28

As Sadie woke up this morning, she couldn’t shake off the lucid dream in which she was driving what appeared to be one of those roller-coaster rides like the Matterhorn in Disneyland. She remembers seeing the precipice below and crisscrossing huge, cavernous mountains.

Could it have been the majestic Andes? Could it have been a genetic dream from her ancestral lands? She remembers coming across a curvy, steep edge. As she got off to get help maneuvering it, she found herself walking into an Asian restaurant…music and all.

Closing her eyes, she breathes deeply, trying to remember. Where was she? Mount Fuji? The Andes? Were they marbled mountains? Was she dodging and weaving around the mountain ranges, pulling her sisters, nephews, and nieces?

Then she woke up!

For three days in a row, Sadie’s been dreaming that she is walking in strange yet familiar places. She saw her nephews from when she studied in LA and lived with them—seeing some of her sisters romping blissfully about. She’s been sleeping soundly; perhaps that is why lucid dreams take over her active mind. As she woke up to empty her bladder this morning, she sighed, “Oh my, that was a good sleep.”

Lately, her dreams have inspired her as she researches her ancestral lands. She’s excited about where this book could lead. Not sure if it’s going to be a short story, a poem, or a novel, but Sadie is convinced it’s time to write it.   Since it was Mother’s Day in Mexico yesterday, her mother, being of Mexican, Spanish, and Portuguese descent, lay heavily in her heart and soul.

Yes, she’s been thinking about writing this for quite some time, even though she already has several projects for her previous books. Her friend Jerry recommended a fantastic website, Fiverr, and immediately, she looked up some freelancers worldwide. She’s excited. There’s Ms. Sherri from Texas uploading her eBooks to Amazon and Dina from Morocco helping translate her first novel to Spanish. Nik from South Africa is working on social media promotion, and Al from Pakistan is assisting with her logo animation.

Dipping her bread in her coffee, Sadie wonders if her other ancestors did that, as did her grandfather, Papa Adolfo. He lived to be 100, and Sadie chuckles as she recalls seeing him drop his glass eye in water every evening. She must’ve been about 10 or 11 when he passed, and she remembers him as a happy, reflective man, always smiling. His eyes would disappear, and his mouth would curl up to his nose. Perhaps he wasn’t wearing dentures. Imagine living to 100. Wow!

She recalls that she and her younger brother would shudder at seeing that glass eye staring back at them. It always seemed so HUGE and menacing in the water! Her grandpa always laughed as she and Michael ran away in disbelief!

As she begins her day, she feels peaceful, calm, and relaxed, taking a bite of her toasted oat bread and savoring her coffee. She likes French Vanilla and mixes the decaf and regular coffee to fend off those jitters! Her second cup is always with ice, and she drops a small caramel candy cube in it for added oomph…oh yes, and honey, too.

She won’t deprive herself of anything because she does workout and takes care of her body. That is what she does. She’s done her meditations today and read about King David’s adultery. He was a sinner, but that is not how he started. He started as a man of courage, and it serves as proof that we can all make mistakes but be forgiven if we repent (as the music reminds her of who she is and her mission to help others. That she will do.)

Yes, she will write about her parents, grandparents, great-great parents, etc., as far as her imaginary waves take her in her latest book. She believes the dead can talk through someone else, and Sadie is doing just that.  She knows that with HOPE, she can get through anything and honor them, delve into the past, and bring their love stories to life!

A few days later, she watches the movie Jaguar, a Spanish movie set in 1960 Madrid about some Nazis that moved to Spain after the war atrocities.  Sadie feels angry as she realizes what some Nazis did to the Spanish Jewish. She does have Jewish ancestors, according to her DNA analysis.

Could it be genetic memory, a psychological phenomenon officially defined as a “memory present at birth that exists in the absence of sensory experience and is incorporated into the genome over long periods.” Of the many variations of human memory, genetic recollections are not discussed as often. Yet, they maintain impacts on the lives of virtually every human being.

Of the recollections that have the highest plausibility of being genetically incorporated, semantic memories make the top of the list. As semantic memory is overall information garnered over one’s lifetime, some great minds have theorized about the human capacity to inherit certain innate qualities, such as learning capacity, brain power, and memories.

Sadie identifies with the lead actress. Why? Could her Spanish-Jewish ancestors have witnessed some of the Nazi atrocities? Were they forced to relinquish their Jewish faith and belief in God for the cruelty and evilness of Hitler and his followers to survive? What about forgiveness for them as well?

The intriguing thing is that the leading actress’s name is Isabel, as is hers.

Sadie soon realizes that digging into her past is not easy. It is pretty daunting. As she searches the website, there is so much information to decipher. Too much for tired eyes sometimes, she kicks herself in the gut and keeps tapping away at the computer as her thoughts and fingers intertwine.

Recalling yet another dream, she smiles as she gets her phone to transcribe that dream:

She had a fabulous dream last night as she and her sister were all camping. They stayed in the wild and were not worried about anything except being careful. She remembers coming into a cave to rest and walking about. She saw reptiles about her, and as she laid down to rest, she looked under some cots and saw a giant lion lying next to her and stretching out. When she looked over, she saw her father’s face. What an incredible sight. Reaching over to touch his face, the lion smiled. Was it the lion of Judah? Her father? Of course, it is the same.

She woke up today with a smile, looking over at the picture of the two in which her arms are wrapped around him. She knows that it’s going to be okay. A few days later, he becomes emotional as she shares this dream with an ex-boyfriend.

“I feel goosebumps,” he says softly, “and that’s exactly how I see my grandfather.”

Together, they share how the strength and love from a father get us through all of life’s trials and tribulations. It is that spiritual bond created as children that will never dissipate. We must grab onto those beautiful memories when we are at our lowest (and even our highest).

She keeps going back to her healing dreams.  She doesn’t feel that the dreams are haunting or harmful; she knows that God speaks to us in our dreams, as written in Psalm 16:7.

In yet another dream, she receives an epiphany in an heirloom being passed down from generation to generation:  a sparkling pendant shaped like a heart with angel wings, diamonds, rubies, and emeralds.  It even flew across the ocean one evening!  Reaching different parts of the world.  From Spain to Portugal, even to Wales, the Andes, to Mexico, she saw the tall, majestic mountains at times covered in snow.  She saw people trekking these mountains.  Some in donkeys, some on horses, some walking tirelessly along the narrow, steep path.  Some shivering during the harsh and brutal winters atop the peaks.

A scripture kept popping up, and it appeared to be 2 Timothy 4:17-18:

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and all the Gentiles might hear it. So, I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. 18 The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom.

Then she woke up and reached into her chest, looking for this pendant.

“Hmmmmmmm.”

Yes, Sadie must find out about this heirloom.  Is she traveling back in her dreams? Is she going forward as she awakens?  Should she even try to figure it all out? Don’t the dead talk to us through others?

To understand what we are, we must understand what we were.

What was their world like? What did they believe?  Sadie’s dreams and writing transport her from the world of the living to the world of the dead, but are they “dead”?

She will continue writing so she won’t forget the memories, and the people she writes about will never die. She is aware that memories aren’t in a specific place.   They are in our hearts forever.