Elvis - A Lighted Candle

[Ingrid]

Dear Trish,

nine years IS a long time! Isn´t that the best, being together with the one person who is your great love?

I think about it a lot because I try not to take it for granted. I´m practically the only one of my girlfriends who is married, everyone else is single or single moms... I consider myself very very lucky, because there is so much love in my life: my wonderful parents, my siblings, my friends, my husband and his lovely family... I´m eternally grateful , because I found out that this is the most important thing in life. It´s so easy to get lost today and having the wrong priorities.

I have to confess, when it comes to numerology and the like I´m a blank page! I´m born on Jan 12, 1977 so I guess I´m a three?? BUT... I was supposed to be born on Jan 8, can you believe that? Apparently I decided to stay in there a little longer than expected . Probably because I was tiny when I was born, I needed the extra time... I found it to be very difficult to find info on numerology on the internet, there are so many contradicting definitions and explanations.

Anyway, I AM a hopeless romantic! And my husband is, too! I guess a lot of people think we´re crazy .

Did you hear Oprah say that she is a distant relative of Elvis? A little while ago I read an interview with Lorina Bolig, who wrote a book on Elvis´ancestors, she is a genealogist and did extensive research on the subject. And according to her research, Elvis and Oprah are not related!!

Here´s the link and the excerpt to the interview:

http://www.elvisinfonet.com/interview_lorinabolig.html

EIN: Elvis’ family tree has been somewhat of a grey area. There have been claims and counterclaims around his ancestry. For instance, we’ve heard that Oprah Winfrey and a number of US presidents are related to Elvis. What did your research uncover about these claims?

LB: I have found Elvis’ ancestors to never have owned slaves, and that is what the claim says that Oprah is related to Elvis through an indiscretion with a Presley slave. The records show Thomas Presley did not own slaves. I will attach the transcribed records to my web site so that others can see this for themselves. Many would be surprised if they researched it themselves. According to my research Oprah and Elvis are not related.

She talked about many more really interesting things on Elvis´ancestry: to what degree he is related to US presidents, that he has German AND Scottish ancestors, etc.

I think Oprah is a smart woman and I guess she had to "play dumb" on the fact that Elvis read a lot to put some emphasis on that fact, to alert her viewers who probably didn´t know . At least I hope that´s what she did !

I will post that link in a separate topic, so it´s not burried in this thread...

Take care, Trish, talk to you soon!

Ingrid

[Wanda June Hill]

Hi, I liked what you had to say Trish, you are very young to have learned so much and be aware of it - people living in this day don't seem to see past the end of their nosees so it's great when younger ones are already atuned to the real qualities of life...and it's isn't just getting what one wants and to hell with how you do it! That seems to be today's mind set in many ways-at least with those we run into. Thank fully not often!

As for Elvis' ancestors owning slaves- Elvis said he thought they had slaves working the fields-now he didn't say "owned" them but working them. He also said that it was his great-great grandfather's place-now possibly they worked the fields and were owned by someone else I don't know and he didn't either. He didn't know much about it, he was speaking in reference to the Civil war and how some of his relatives lost everything, and how too, he felt that he had fought in that war and been killed quite young-shot in the midsection. He had "dreams" he said and he thought it was "going back in time" or something. Anyway, I wondered about the connection Oprah was told she had-you know that being such a celebrity someone might have come up with that thinking to get her attention? Just a thought, I have no way of knowing and it could be true-we are all related in ways if we go far enough back- Adam and Eve? Anyway, it made a good contact for Lisa Marie and Oprah is a very kind and nice lady who has done a great deal of good for so many people. She's a good role model for other young women too, had lots of struggles and things to over come and she did. wjh

[Ingrid]

Thank you, Wanda, I guess you meant me

I like Oprah, too, very much so. She had nothing and worked very hard to get where she is today. I think she´s one of those celebrities who are still authentic and honest. It´s unbelievable what Oprah can get out of people, she can basically ask anything she wants, people trust her.

She even asked Lisa Marie a very delicate question about her marriage to Michael Jackson and she got an answer!!

Wanda, you said the same thing that this researcher Lorina Bolig said at the end of her interview. Did you see it in "General -> Elvis´ancestors"?

She said we´re all related and therefore should be kind to each other, that´s what Elvis did.

Bye bye,

Ingrid

[Golden Sky]

Hello Ingrid and Wanda!

Ingrid now I think I see why I was compelled to ask if you are a Six: I saw some similarities in us. It's probably due to the closeness of our birthdays. So often in my life if I'm talking to a fellow Capricorn I have suddenly interrupted the conversation to say: "Wait, you're Capricorn too aren't you?" A few times the reply was, "Yes, and so are you, right?" How neat that you were due on Elvis's birthday.

I haven't been able to penetrate the deep mysteries of numerology either. It's too complicated and contradictory; however, I have glimpsed through a few books that made it intelligible. Linda Goodmans' Soul Signs comes to mind. I never bought these books, though. I figured I would relate to Chiero's Book of Numbers because the excerpts resonated strongly with me.

Wanda, I'm glad you're seeing signs that us young ones aren't hopeless altogether!!!

I thought Oprah was deadpan joking about her relation to Elvis. I thought she was serious about her grandmother's last name but using that as a springboard for a joke. I was unaware that she was making a serious claim! Thank you both for clarifying that and the part about slaves.

Wanda, also: I had something of a "hot flash" when you mentioned Elvis's memory of getting shot in the Civil War. I felt so sorry for him for being aware of it! I went to Gettysburg College and there is A LOT of lingering, tragic energy from the war there. One night at the beginning of a semester I met a fellow housemate who was a male Civil War expert. We stayed up late talking about the war by candlenight and when he realized I wouldn't mock him for having strange ideas, he told me that he had been killed in the Civil War before: he told me where he was in the battlefields when it happened, what it felt like, what he had been thinking about. He had tears in his eyes. He said he came back to Gettysburg to make peace with himself.

So I believe what Elvis was saying because I've believed others who lived that nightmare as well.

Thank you so much for the story and conversation.

Love,
Trish

[Wanda June Hill]

I just read both threads about ancestors of Elvis' and I wanted to add to what I said above...Elvis DID say that his anscestors " had" slaves- and to me I thought he meant it as they "owned" them and that on his father's side of the family. I do not recall his exact wording of that, I do not remember him saying "owned" -whether he meant it was owning them or working them, but he did say his father's relatives "had them working in the fields" I am not the definitive expert on him or his family and that is a FACT-I only know what he told me and what I've heard and read about since. I would think people doing research on his family would be able to discover a lot of things that even he didn't know. He said that himself-laughing that he might find out he was his own "grandpappy" so he "wasn't gonna mess with it. He said when he "fell into money" relatives came out of the wood work-it was hard to know who was who. I wonder if the relative who had slaves "working the fiels" was maybe the overseer? As they lived on a big plantation and Elvis wanted to "find" where it was and was going to go down and look at battle fields where he thought he had fought on in another life-and while there he was going to drive around some and see if he could find that area where it used to be. He said his grandmother told him that HER grandma told her it had burned to the ground in the war. I wish I had all that written down or had taped it but there is so much that wasn't ever even put in notes-I couldn't keep up with his stories enough at times...especially at 3 or 4 in the morning when he'd be trying to go to sleep. It was funny, he would talk more southern when talking about such things, relaxing I guess, being himself maybe? Anyway, he deplored the whole idea of owning other people like that and using them like livestock is how he put it., saying that people looked down on his family because they were poor, even some of his father's relatives didn't like his mother when she married his daddy. He didn't understand he said, why people had to judge others just because of what they had or didn't have-those things didn't matter. It was how we treated our "brothers and sisters" because we were all the family of God, the Bible says so". He said that several times over the years-he believed that everyone was equal, just some did different things that earned them more money because they "reached people" more or maybe in a better way than others would. I sure wish I had taped every word out of his mouth-he had some fine things to say and so many people didn't listen to him back then-maybe they would now. I guess his movies and what we do have in memory that is on paper etc: will have to do... I am sorry I didn't write things when I was younger and had better recall.

[ALNA]

that story of little Lisa with her dad, was AWESOME

Thanks Wanda for sharing such precious precious memories

[MaryInTheMorning]

Wanda my sweet friend thank you so much for sharing the precious words and thoughts that our dear Elvis expressed to you concerning how we should all treat one another!! Such a beautiful, loving and accepting heart he had!! Ingrid my thanks to you also for posting the link and the excerpt to the interviw with Lorina Bolig! Very interesting to read and things there that I had not known before.

[Rainbow Light]

Many thanks, Wanda, for your great and wonderful post and, as always, for sharing so much with us about our dearest Elvis!

AMEN to Alna and Mari for all you have said so well above, too!

[73smile]

Maryinthemorning--I think that you caught it all in your post. Thank you.
I agree that we all need to keep working hard to remember always, that Elvis' heart was so very, very precious. In the time in which we live it seems that some people do not understand what they are missing because they rush here and there and still do not accomplish too much.
I believe that if more of the people on earth could model the generous spirit that was such a big part of Elvis that the earth would be a better place for all to live on.
When I am listening to Elvis sing "In My Father's House" I feel as though Elvis' love for others became known by millions of people and that the love he so freely gave was the core of why we loved him and why we still love him.
Elvis was given to us as a gift by the One above for us to understand that when one feels loved that he or she is also capable of giving love and the pure love that is shared---helps to make us want to be better people.

[MaryInTheMorning]

I thank you so much ladies for the wonderful feedback to my above post, but dearest Marjorie I think it is you who encapsulated it all so perfectly with what you just posted above and to which I say a BIG AMEN!!!

[73smile]

Always with love is how I think about the beauty, the giving and the passion filled heart that was Elvis. We are blessed because we are here now and Elvis will always live in my heart. That smile, maryinthemorning, in your avatar, is what I see when I close my eyes when I am listening to him sing "Mary In The Morning" or "Just Pretend."
His smile makes it difficult to stay sad for long.
He said "I am just a man...." but we know he was and is so much more than that!
Love always,
Marjorie

[MaryInTheMorning]

Always with love is how I think about the beauty, the giving and the passion filled heart that was Elvis. We are blessed because we are here now and Elvis will always live in my heart. That smile, maryinthemorning, in your avatar, is what I see when I close my eyes when I am listening to him sing "Mary In The Morning" or "Just Pretend."
His smile makes it difficult to stay sad for long.
He said "I am just a man...." but we know he was and is so much more than that!
Love always,
Marjorie

AMEN and oh how you have beautifully spoken the true feelings of my heart here dearest Marjorie!!!

[FairyTale]

Marjorie Thank You for what you said, I myself when I Listen to a Elvis singing a song. I smile and at the same time I have tears running down my face, its because I feel that Elvis is singing just for me. The Love he gives me No Words can really Express! FairyTale!

[Golden Sky]

I'm joining the chorus here and saying AMEN, Marjorie, Amen.

[Rainbow Light]

Me too! AMEN!!