Wouldn’t tracing your roots and family back to Adam and Eve would be great? Family history is fascinating; it’s like reading an entire library. Just think of your own life, then multiply that by infinity. The stories from your family alone are a legacy because look where you are and who you have become due to the past!

To know where you came from, where it all began, who began what, why, and how. There are many questions, possibilities, and much to ponder; pick me, pick me; I want to know!  One day, perhaps I will. Until then, I have learned about some of my kinfolk more on my mother’s side and only half a story on my father’s side… but I owe it to them after all for making it possible for me to be here and even perhaps were born with some of their characteristics. What I do know for sure is that I have your typical American crazy family. We have all walks of life, chips off the old block, and even war heroes.

Family is the love of the most significant kind of love and can be felt, given, and shared in so many ways. I think love is tremendously powerful, so much so that I decided when speaking of the greatest love, I’m going to call it Super Love! Super Love, like love, you can hear, feel, express, receive, give, accept, and hold it dear in the most super capacity. It is felt in your stomach, your heart, your skin, it’s felt in your face, your brain, and your breath.

Super Love I have always felt this about my children but didn’t know how to categorize it, label it, or even express it in a statement. Yet it was always there but, in some ways, unorganized. That was until I met my first-born granddaughter. She was born in Germany while my son was stationed in the Army. I couldn’t travel to meet her until she was 8 months old, and I was ever so anxious. I immediately fell in love, but that wasn’t all, her eyes, the way she looked at me. I felt her love in my heart, radiating throughout my body like I had become a superhuman of love with all its powers and might. It was glorious, it was Super Love! A few years later, while thinking about her when she was still miles and obstacles away, I still felt her love and love for her even though she wasn’t right beside me. More grands were being born, and that love grew tremendously; my heart exploded!  I saw the power of love plain as day, and I sat down and wrote a children’s book about it. Naturally, I titled it Super Love. I genuinely am passionate about my family. I want what’s best for them; I desire them to be safe, sound, happy, healthy, productive, and of good choices and work. I constantly contact them in all their forms; my family is a massive part of my life!

It was not the same story of how love all started for my great, great, great Grandfather William Williamson. He had run away from home with his brother at age 6. They hopped on a train headed to anywhere but the abusive home they lived in. His biological father died a few years back, and his biological mother remarried only to have died shortly after, and he was being raised by his cruel stepfather. William and his older brother wouldn’t have that; they required, needed, and desired LOVE! 153 miles away, he was taken in by a rancher who raised him and his brother with that love, and thank goodness for good people, right?

After a spell, he met and married the love of his life, Joachine Williams, and they began a homestead and raised 11 children. I have one clear photo of Ol’ William. he didn’t smile much, maybe in that era, but something in his eyes are tender and tells a story of how hardship and hard things weren’t going to impact him negatively, for there was joy in that beam you could clearly see just inside those crow’s feet! I only have one photo of Joachine as well. At first glance, I immediately think of an Indian Chief. I honestly thought this was where my Native American Indian lineage originated, but I was wrong; that’s from my grandfather’s side. Ol’ Joachine may have looked like she led a few hostile tribal battles, but her stories are all about raising a happy and loving home, surviving the brutal winters and cruel summers, raising all those kids off the land, cooking and cleaning and supporting her soulmate, they loved each other, everyone!

I think hard times, such as the ones they endured, made her brave and bold. Plus, photos back then didn’t have any filters; she was who she was, a loving wife and mother and a homesteader. Out of that family came my great, great grandfather Jasper. Jasper, a pretty good-looking fella, reminds me of Wyatt Earp, played by Kurt Russell in Tombstone. He seemed well put together, studious, and ambitious. He worked hard and was always working. He didn’t have time to date, so his buddy showed him a photo of his sister who lived in Canada; her name was Mary Jane Baker, and he liked what he saw. He wrote her a letter, sent her a photograph of himself, and asked her to marry him, a true mail-order bride! She liked his letter, obliged, and said, ” I do”! They married and fell head over heels in love. They had 3 babies: Edna, Margaret, and Abb. Mary Jane died 6 weeks after baby Abb was born. Jasper was heartbroken. After some years had passed, he remarried, and the new stepmom, Maggie Ann Myers, was loving as if those children were her own. They had 3 children together, and then she died, just how it was back then, hard times but not broken!

My Great Grandmother died when I was 13 months old… Maggie (Margaret) was a rambunctious girl, social, fit, studious, and loved to dance. Dancing and music were her favorite things. She knew her husband as a youth; they used to play marbles together. Ellis Hayes could sing, dance, imitate, play the violin, be a magician, and do anything entertaining. Maggie shared in a memoir she loved how talented he was. Ellis was a jack of all trades; they married, and he and Maggie had 5 children. Out of those 5 was my Grandmother Inez.

I loved my Grandma Inez with all my heart! Inez loved her siblings; she loved life. She played with her dolls and always wanted to be around her dad. Like those before her, she had her fair share of tragedies, but, again, she was a survivor. Inez married Sam Hubert Armstrong. Sammy loved my grandmother; he was a good provider, was good-looking, and served in the Navy in WW2. He wrote to my grandmother to marry her, and they eventually married. They had 5 kids, and the eldest is my mother, Marian Jean Armstrong (Nolte, Milo).

I spent most of my childhood weekends at my grandparents’ house; never, ever was there a shortage of love from them for me; I was so blessed and probably spoiled, spoiled with Super Love! My folks, my mom loved to sing, sewed, played Laurie in Oklahoma, met my dad in High School, were both in the choir, fell in Love, married right out of High School, and began a family. They had 4 kids. My dad, Dwaine Nolte, had an indomitable spirit to serve and be a good steward all his youth. He was in Boy Scouts and JR ROTC and would go out of his way to help an old lady cross the street. He joined the Army after marrying my mom and became a Police officer.

I’m the second eldest and middle child. Genetically, According to my GenoType, I am a Hunter. My legs are longer than my torso, and my lower leg is longer than my upper leg. I am a meat eater, I have a high capacity for endurance, I rarely get sick, and I have dense bones but a small frame. Mentally… I love to lead and strive to grow in leadership. I’m a realist. A straight talker, I do not mince words; a straight shooter, I tell it like a person. Things are black and white to me; what’s good is good, and evil is wrong. Middle of the row is limbo, and I don’t like being there or anyone else as I find it indecisive and Grey. I’m principle-centered and love to tell things in a way that all can enjoy with fun stories and life experiences, having learned something from them and those of my ancestors.

 I adore humor; it’s the golden part of life. I add humor to life; you can’t go wrong with humor and love! My mentality is that of a Sheepdog. I am a protector. I’m a teacher at heart and love to serve, and I believe I was given the talent to do so uniquely. Spiritually, I believe in my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, that he lived, died, and was resurrected, that he is the Savior of the world and my redeemer, and that he loves me tremendously. I also feel the companionship of the Holy Spirit, his guide, and my deceased ancestors, who I think look out for me, too. I feel love in lots of places.

I am a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My kids are members of the church, and most of the family is on my mother’s side. My family is diverse, and I honor and respect all my kin folk and what they believe. I am happy for everyone’s freedom to choose.

I remarried in 2016 to a church member who had come to my studio and trained in a couple classes. He never went away and constantly pursued to get to know me. It’s not my type typically, but they say opposites attract. He was continually doing sweet things to get my attention, and that got my attention. I saw great potential in us and knew we could build a lasting relationship. We married 6 months after our 1^st date. When I define ours, I think about the song by Nat King Cole, LOVE. I automatically became a stepmom to 4, and he automatically became a stepdad to 3, plus a grandpa. We now have 10 grandkids, sons-in-law & daughters-in-law, and the family is still growing.

Keeping precious memories like writing stories, journals, photo boxes, and scrapbooks is essential to keeping up and leaving a legacy for the next several generations. I hope to inspire my kids, grands, and family with something worth writing about or sharing. Leaving your mark daily is essential, and learning how to improve yourself and what you do for others is wildly important, just as our early parents & what they did back in the day, good old grands Adam & Eve!