The Friday Five: Family
Mar. 14th, 2025 09:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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thefridayfive
1. How far back can you trace your family tree?
Just my grandparents, although my mother did some research which I've put safely somewhere.
2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?
I had a great aunt who was a suffragette (my maternal grandfather's sister). On one occasion she was almost thrown over a bridge in Bath, but a policeman intervened to save her.
3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?
I think children should be allowed to be their own people, rather than having the family making a major claim on them. Having said that, Son's middle name is both his father's name and my father's middle name (it's a common name, so doesn't stand out) and Daughter has my mother's name as her middle name (again a common name).
4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?
In the sense that we've been married for umpteen years and had two children, one of each, then yes, we're traditional. But we, and they, have been very individual in our life choices (without being extreme) and so probably less so than many.
5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?
I can't think of anything in particular. Other than the philosophy of 'Be yourself, everyone else is taken', or, as a t-shirt Daughter gave to husband says, 'Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. In that case, be Batman.'
thefridayfive 1. How far back can you trace your family tree?
Just my grandparents, although my mother did some research which I've put safely somewhere.
2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?
I had a great aunt who was a suffragette (my maternal grandfather's sister). On one occasion she was almost thrown over a bridge in Bath, but a policeman intervened to save her.
3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?
I think children should be allowed to be their own people, rather than having the family making a major claim on them. Having said that, Son's middle name is both his father's name and my father's middle name (it's a common name, so doesn't stand out) and Daughter has my mother's name as her middle name (again a common name).
4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?
In the sense that we've been married for umpteen years and had two children, one of each, then yes, we're traditional. But we, and they, have been very individual in our life choices (without being extreme) and so probably less so than many.
5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?
I can't think of anything in particular. Other than the philosophy of 'Be yourself, everyone else is taken', or, as a t-shirt Daughter gave to husband says, 'Always be yourself. Unless you can be Batman. In that case, be Batman.'
