Bringing the future to the past

Today I went to church twice.  No, I'm not extremely faithful or religious.  Today is Palm Sunday, so I went to church for that, then this afternoon my whole family went into NYC to celebrate my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary.  The blessing for them was held at the church on the Upper East Side that my parents were married at and I was baptized at.  Other than my baptism, I've been to that church twice before (for the baptism of my little cousins) and really looked forward to and loved going again, especially since this time I had my husband with me (we hadn't even met yet the last time I was there).

Most of the service was in Estonian (which is what my father's family is) and a soloist even sang "Amazing Grace" in Estonian, which brought tears to my eyes.  Like I said, I am not particularly faithful or religious, but I do enjoy being in church and am moved by it quite frequently (and that's not limited to churches either; I have teared up in synagogue, too).  I have great respect for faith and religion and for those whose life it helps.  I know a lot of people have issues with church-going, but I think I was lucky enough to grow up attending a really great church whose congregation does a lot of great things for people.

Of course, my nephew TJ was there today and it was great to watch him toddle around the church.  He's such a joy; people really are drawn to him (except for one bratty kid who kept stealing his toys and trying to knock him over and punch him; I swear, I wanted to clock that kid - he had to be at least five or six and he was picking on a one year old).  It was really emotional to sit in this church where my parents were married, where I was baptized, where so many people of my heritage still gather to sing their national anthem and pray in their homeland language - and then watch my darling one year old nephew toddle around.  He's only 1/4 Estonian, but I wonder what his heritage will mean to him.  How will he view and put together all the different nationalities that have come together to create him?  Will he think of all the family members who left their homes and traveled to a new country so that their children could have better lives, not even able to think far ahead enough to this wonderful little boy who would one day wander down the aisle of this church still speaking the old country language?