Woods

Going to the woods is going home.  John Muir

This simple thought is what popped into my head today when I was out in the middle of the woods.  I thought about how I have never felt scared or alone among the trees.  The sounds are what especially draw me in: the breeze and the birds, sometimes the sound of woodpeckers and owls and squirrels surrounding me.  At times, especially in North Dakota, the sound of the river; or in Minnesota, the peaceful wave that comes in to the lakeshore.  People listen to CD's to mimic this because the sounds of life are so amazingly calming!

I must say that the place that gives me the most peace is the Boundary Waters, where most of life is untouched and exactly how it should be.  Where life exists because of Mother Nature herself, who has produced the natural beauty that surrounds the land. There is no greater feeling than in the canoe, as if part of the water, the trees and the dirt.  The fresh air literally reviving your body back to purity.  This is when I feel like all is right in the world, and there is nothing more I could even ask for.  This is when I am most in the present and can thank God for the most beautiful gift of life.  Where I can close my eyes, breathe in, and most of the time have tears well up in my eyes.  It is then that I remember who I am and what I am here for.  It is when I am most thankful for the love that has surrounded me my entire life.

These trips to the Boundary Waters have always been with my Dad.  And this is another reason I sometimes get teary-eyed.  I have been blessed with the most amazing and loving parents a girl could ask for.  Everything I am is because of those two.  But it doesn't just start with them.  It started with my Grandparents, and their parents, and beyond.  It started with all who have been inspirational to them, taught them how to live life to its fullest, be the best person they can be--and most importantly, to simply Love.

I was just talking to my Dad about our ancestors from the Ongaro side.  I could not believe in hearing that the first Ongaro (that we know of) was born in 1609 in Gandino, Italy--this tiny village we were fortunate enough to visit the last time we were in Italy.  What is amazing is that there have been Ongaro's in Gandino since then and no one ever left until my Dad's grandfather came to Hibbing in 1910! (more specifically Carson Lake or Leetonia).  My grandpa Frank Ongaro lived and passed away in Hibbing, and my Dad now lives in Hibbing.  So there are two places that the Ongaro's have held onto their history--Gandino, Italy and Hibbing.  This gives me such an appreciation for our descendants, and how much the Ongaro's respect their name and their culture.

It is incredibly important to know where our families came from.  I would not be here, in America, if my family didn't make the sacrifices they did.  My great-grandma "Baba" (My grandmother Ongaro's Mom) was sent away to Leetonia (right outside of Hibbing) from her beautiful Croatian village.  She spent a month on the bottom of ship in the worst conditions imaginable to get here.  I have been to her homeland in Croatia, and I would not have wanted to leave!  And she didn't--she hated it here at first!

To know our roots us gives us an even greater appreciation for our life today--and these are some of the thoughts that come to me in the middle of the woods, among the beautiful life that surrounds us.  I thank God for my family and for the life I have been given.  I think of the freedom I have to go wherever I want, do whatever I want, be whoever I want.  I have such a respect for my family, and I will never forget where I came from.  I will spend the rest of my life honoring all those who have sacrificed so I could have a better life.





In the beauty of nature is where I am rejuvenated and feel like there is nothing in this world that can bring me down--as long as I keep coming home, to the woods.