KOOBAH!!

My Grandmother is visiting for my brother's graduation; she arrived last night. My younger brother and sister went to bed before ten, but Mom, Dad, Grandma Betty, and I stayed up talking much later. Mom related an anecdote about how at Walmart the other day, we ran into my sister-in-law (married to my oldest brother TJ) Lesley. She wasn't looking too good - she looked as if she was under a lot of stress, and she hadn't dyed her hair in a while, so she was liberally streaked with grey (although she is only 31). The reason that she has greys, and has had greys since she was 16, is because she has Indian (Native American, si vous preferiz) blood in her. It turns out that anyone who is descended from Native Americans is genetically predisposed to get grey hair early in life. Well Rob, who knows that we kids are descended from the Choctaw Indians, said that must be why my Mom has so many greys. My Mom was bewildered - she doesn't have any Indian blood in her, not by any means. So we asked for his reasoning, which was that because he had it, she must also. But no, we get our Choctaw heritage from my Dad's side of the family, and Mom, as she jokingly said, does not get it from Dad. But anyway, this anecdote led my Grandma Betty to start a discussion on her side of the Family (which would be my Mother's side of the family). Apparently, her mother (my great-grandmother, Nana) came from Puerto Rico. My Great-Grandfather, Nana's husban, was from Cuba, which I have the uncanny proclivity to pronounce "Koo-bah." I don't know his name, but he was second-generation Cuban, as I found out. His parents were born in Cuba, to parents that had immigrated to Cuba from Spain, specifically Galicia (pronouced "Ga-li-thia"). Galicia is the region of Spain on the northern coast, primarily known for fishing. The interesting thing about Galicia is that the Gallegos (residents of Galicia) do not speak Spanish, they speak something else which is like Portuguese (which is logical because they are very near Portugal), but the language is even more like Gaelic, which may give some reason for the name Galicia. Gaelic is from Scotland and Ireland, and I think it is the language of the Celts, who did settle Spain way back in the 6th century B.C. That is SO COOL! A little while ago, I began to take an interest in Gaelic, because the series of books that I was reading had quite a bit of Gaelic in it. Coincidence that my ancestors spoke Gaelic, and that I should take a sudden interest in it? But the celtic ancestry does explain the fair skin on my Grandmother's side of the family, and my fair(-ish) skin, with a good bit of freckling, and my Mom's, my sister's, and my green eyes. This is so cool! This means that I am descended from Ireland and Scotland from three of my four Grandparents. Grandma Betty's husband, my Grandpa Bob who passed away a little while ago, was of Irish descent (Forsythe - sound's Irish, right?) My other grandfather, who I never met as he was killed long before I was ever born, was also of Irish and Scottish descent. In fact, we looked up the name "Cumbie" in a Scottish Clan book, and found that the Combies were part of the Macintosh clan at Inverness, in Scotland. Scotland and Ireland have always held a special place in my heart. I want to go there someday, maybe even live there. And now I have a reason - to see if I can find relatives! This is so very exciting! But the weird thing is that I was incapable of pronouncing Cuba any other way that Koobah, but I really have no Cuban blood in me. My great grandfather who was Cuban by citizenship married a woman from the Canary Islands (of the northwestern coast of Africa). But what the hell, I'll say Koobah as much as I want, and no one can stop me. Koobah!!