La Luna/The Moon

About 5 years ago I started watching one of those shows that dive head first into the pool of the genealogy of a celebrity.  They follow one of the branches of the celebrity's family tree until they hit the most amazing story of one their ancestors.  People who sacrifice, who were heroic, or sometimes who committed the most awful of sins and mistakes. 

I felt inspired to go on my own quest for find out more.  I searched online and found most of the information that I had already learned from mom.  Mostly just names and dates.  I wanted more stories.  I wanted to know who these people were.  I started to hit a few walls and I ended up digging up stuff on my husband's side of the family instead. I uncovered pieces to an amazing family story, much like in those shows.  I was a bit jealous by that point.

A about a year and a half later, my oldest brother started to join in on the research.  My brother's involvement added fuel to a fire that had started to dwindle for me.  We really started to make better connections and piecing together the story of our great-grandmother.  Her last name was Luna, which is the Spanish word for "moon".   Using our living aunt and uncles stories we realized that our great-grandmother had sacrificed a lot to survive.  She hid her own Native American roots and more than likely gave up a lot of her own culture and personal identity in the process to protect herself and her family.

Only now, nearly a century later, because of technology we can finally acknowledge her and her sacrifices.  In honor of her, I named this blog "Rayo de Luna" which is Spanish for "moonbeam".