Greetings, all:

After being separated from my kilted ways by the seriousness of adulthood for far too long, I've decided enough is enough. The more I think on it the more I'm convinced life is too short not to wear a kilt. And discovering the forum has really lifted my spirits in an otherwise gloomy time.

I'm a Scottish-Italian Midwesterner transplanted to New England. While I've always felt a strong affinity for my heritage on both sides, the arrival of my first child (a daughter last September) has had me digging far more deeply into our family's history. The Scottish side (paternal line in my case) excelled at keeping secrets and holding grudges, which has made for considerable difficulty tracing the history back just a couple generations. And rumors of an adoption in Glasgow before immigrating to Detroit only muddied the waters. Anyway, our family has always maintained a connection to Clan Urquhart (by way of my great-grandmother) though our name is Gilmour, which seems to have been a sept of Clan Morrison. I'll continue digging.

My first kilt, passed down within the family, was an Urquhart tartan. Getting back into kilt wearing now I have a USA Kilts casual in the Scottish National tartan. In time, I hope to add a 5- or 8-yard kilt (or several!).

At any rate, it's good to join a kilted community and I appreciate the wonderful resource this forum has become for me. Thank you!