For those of you who are able to trace their ancestry back to another country...

[macwriter]

30. I have done this as well

I traveled back to Italy and actually found cousins who continued to live in that same small village where my grandfather came from. He left and the rest of the family stayed in Italy. We went for a walk and found out that I was related to most of the people who lived in that neighborhood. We stopped at an abandoned house that was now being used for storage and it was explained to me that this was the house where my grandfather was born and pointed to a window in the house saying that this was the window to his bedroom. We all had dinner together -- the whole town showed up. It was a thrill.

Before I left I returned to the little abandoned house, scooped up dirt from the property and placed it in a bunch of old empty film containers from my camera -- remember them? When I got home, I split up the dirt into small plastic ziplock pill bags, glue gunned them to a homemade Christmas ornament and gave them to our US relatives. The message was simple:

No matter where you go, you'll always have soil from your ancestral home to take with you and remind you of your roots.

It was a big hit.

Thanks for sharing your story.