Before I was a Seiler, I was an O'Neill.  

O'Neill is where my story began. As a little girl, I recall traditional Irish music filling the silence of our home. My mother would religiously cart me back and forth to Irish dance lessons and competitions without complaint. I'd have the big wool dress with intricate Celtic detailing, and the hard dance shoes that would make a thunderous BANG while practicing in our basement or garage. My father would tell stories of his youth, his grandfather, James, his father Emmett. I fell in love with these stories and embodied them as my foundation, the very thing that would make me, me.  

When I was the age of twelve, my parents brought my brother and I to Ireland to meet strangers who would quickly become family. I remember, on the flight over, feeling an intense love for a land I had never even stepped foot on, and once I did, the feeling of belonging grew. Everything about it, from the rich history, to the salty, fresh air brought me to an understanding of my ancestry, and once more, a part of me.  

When we drove up the country road to the farmstead in which my great grandfather was raised, I wondered what it would be like meeting people who my dad had spoken about as relations. Would I understand them? Would they know who I was?  My Mother and Father, you see, had already made the long trip over to the Emerald Isle back in 1978, when my father introduced himself as James O'Neill's grandson. The connection was made and my father and mother were welcomed back "Home". Here they were, again, introducing their children to a land that bore our Irish blood and gave to use the title, Irish American's, as so many who had immigrated are now known.  
 

After meeting my family, the first journey was only the beginning. I was addicted to say the least and have been back and forth to Ireland many times now and talk to some of my relatives on a daily basis. This love and these relationships are something I have passed on to my boys. The O'Neill's, although distant from me, are close to me in heart, for they are who I am. We are O'Neill's through and through, bonded by blood and history, all having the same love for the land. 

So here I am today, combining my roots with who I am. Always a Seiler, Forever an O'Neill.