I am thankful to be alive. Every generation has its tough battles. But finding out what happened to some of my ancestors helped put mine in perspective. One of my great-grandmothers for instance got pregnant with her first child at 14 yrs old. When her parents found out the family moved from the Wild west gold rush town of Hokitika to the North Island, probably to get her away from the predator. She married only a few years later at 17 yrs old and died age 34, giving birth to her 15th child. That child was my grandfather. So finding out about my paternal heritage and ancestry has made me thankful to be alive. I am also thankful to live in the time when science has advanced to the extent that we now have DNA and could find out who my father is, and about my ancestors, good, or bad. By the way her husband didn't settle for only 14 children, he remarried and had more. They had big families back in the day - no T.V., as a friend of mine put it.