I am grateful for the traditions and places and blood that link us back in time to each other, that anchor us. I think they become more important as we get older. I like them more now than I did when I was a kid. I am glad they no longer feel like being bound, something I need to break out of in order to find myself. I am me, just as I am. My ties make me feel stronger not weaker now, because I understand they do not make me, me.