A Portrait of My Ancestor Makes Me Wish I’d Asked More Questions

A thousand years ago and more, people remembered stories of the gods, warriors, seers, and tricksters who birthed human cultures. Have we lost that?

Not the painting mentioned, but another ancestor I found while writing this story. Andrew Kirkpatrick, Class of 1775, by Samuel Lovett Waldo. Princeton University Art Museum.

I wasn’t a notably courageous child, and both sets of grandparents had things around the house that scared…