It all started when I found out that my uncle had the family Bible. Of the nine children in his family, my grandfather inherited the family Bible. He had five children and nine grandchildren. Only one would get the Bible, and it was decided a long time ago that it would be my cousin Bob, the oldest grandson to carry on the name.

That decision was fine with me, but I wanted to see that old family Bible and make copies of the records handwritten in it. My uncle dropped off not only the Bible, but also a box filled with documents about our family's history that he had collected. It was like opening a treasure chest.

I decided to scan all the documents and burn them on CDs for my sister and my other cousins. By the time that project was complete, I had become curious about one of my mother's grandmothers. All we knew about her was her name. She had died just a few days after giving birth to my grandmother. I got on the internet and by looking up census records was able to trace her life.

I wanted to know more. I found out that some of my ancestors were Huguenots, who fled to America because of religious persecution. Others were Scotch Irish who came to America during the Potato Famine. Tonight I found research that someone has done tracing my great great great grandmother's family back to Norwegian and Swedish royalty. One line goes back to the Vandals, and if I'm remembering my world history correctly, they were not nice people!

I got off the computer and went for a bike ride. As I rode, I wondered about these long ago ancestors of mine. Where did they live? How did they cook - especially in the Dark Ages? What did they eat? Were they Type Os like myself? My daughter has been studying Hippocrates and the Doctrine of Humors in biology. I suppose their medicine was based on that tradition.

I keep reassuring my husband that I do not plan to make genealogy a permanent hobby. However, it has made history come alive to me in a new way. And it makes me want to pass to my own children a good heritage both in values and in health.

I came home from the bike ride and fixed an interesting drink that I would almost guarantee none of my ancestors could have imagined. I mixed concentrated pomegranate juice and concentrated pineapple juice in ice cold mineral water. Delicious