Why Scotland?

I've been asked, "Why Scotland?"

I'd say it's been a growing passion for the past couple decades.

It probably started when my oldest daughter became a Jane Austen fan and had me reading the books and watching all the movies and mini-series from the BBC.  She helped me understand the culture and the humor and it just grew from that.  When I accompanied her to Cambridge, England for a study abroad opportunity, I was absolutely besotted with everything - the land, the people, the food, the language, the dwellings, the cities and the villages.  It was like nowhere else I'd ever been before. And my heart ached when I left.

I felt like I was leaving home, not going home.

"Home" being a sense of belonging.

Why would this be so?

I'm German!  

My ancestry is from Germany!

Both sides!

On my next visit, with my second oldest daughter, the feeling was the same.  She is also a Jane Austen fan and so we shared the longing to absorb the British ambiance.

It was as magical as the first visit.

And I left wanting - longing - for more.

After that, my son and husband decided they'd like to make a pilgrimage to St. Andrews, Scotland for a trip.  I tagged along, curious if Scotland was as enchanting as I found England to be.
Well, we flew into Edinburgh and I was charmed immediately,  even in my jet lag stupor!
We saw the Military Tattoo the same night as the day we arrived.
It was rainy.  It was cold.  I was tired.
IT WAS CAPTIVATING!!!
I wholeheartedly recommend seeing it, if there's any way you can
time your travel to be here during its run.

From Edinburgh we hopped out into the countryside, golf course after golf course, and
Scotland worked its way right into my heart and again ....
I left aching to return.

And then - I started looking into my family history for quite another reason and this one branch on my father's side astonished me.  My paternal grandmother's line was Scottish and English!  And quite a bit of it, actually! And I started looking and it seemed most of my German ancestry was the most recent around my existence.  Further back, not so much!  I have nothing against my German heritage, and maybe I'll feel a connection if I travel there, more than the few hours I spent inside the border several years ago.  It helps that my husband's ancestry is predominantly English, Scottish, and Welsh.  When we visit Scotland, we are visiting where both of our families lived and died.

All I know is that I feel something here.  

I get these people.

I love these people.

And so I come and visit as much as I can.