On this very day, 114 years ago,
my paternal great-great grandparents landed on Ellis Island
after a 10 day journey at sea.

They left the Port of Hamburg, Germany on November 25, 1909
and landed on Ellis Island in the afternoon of December 5, 1909.

They took a risk in the pursuit of a better life
that was not guaranteed.

In the quiet of 2am,
after a night of wearing crystals,
dancing on a bar with fire kissing my skin,
and reading tarot cards in red lit nooks,
I took a detour.

The river was calling me.
The Ancestors were calling me.

I was alone as it neared 3am
the click of my black heels echoing
down a lonely dock.

I felt the ghosts of days long gone by
protecting me.

In my fist, I held rose petals…
left over from a night of performing
and doing the things I had always dreamed of doing for a living…
Here.
In New York City.
The same land that their feet touched
for the first time
114 years ago today.

I put the petals to my lips to kiss them.
I thanked ancestors that I never knew.

The green eyes I inherited from them, scanned the New York City skyline…the same one my ancestors glimpsed when their boat finally saw land after ten full days at sea…….

….except how different it looked then.

The Chrysler Building didn’t exist.
The Empire State Building didn’t exist.

This girl holding rose petals for them on the end of a dock didn’t exist.

That was all for Future Dreaming.

The Bridges were the Beacons.
The Williamsburg, the Manhattan and the legendary Brooklyn Bridge.
They were there in 1909.
They welcomed my ancestors.

Tears fell down my face
with gratitude for their courage and bravery,
as I looked at the same bridges they gazed upon…
wild eyed as me,
scared as me,
hopeful as me,
exhilarated as me.

I released the petals into the river
and watched them be carried by the waves
in the light of a waning moon.

Ancestors, I stand on this shore 114 years in your future…
before dawn on the anniversary of your arrival
singing
the
song
of
YOU.

And the wind gathers around me and the whispers move through the breezes of time….

Be Brave.

We are rooting for you.