Saturday, September 17, 2011
That's a great story !
I have had an inspiration ! I love the feeling of achievement, the natural "high" if you will, of discovering something new about my family. It is that moment when all that digging through endless websites or documents pays off and everything clicks into place. It is a moment that is hard to describe unless you have had a moment of equal experience.
I have always believed that the universe delivers the opportunity when the time is right and the stars must be in line ! I recently put out a call for submissions for a book plan that I am putting together that will share the type of achievements that I mentioned above, only instead of writing ad nausea about my own family stories I will be sharing some FANTASTIC stories from many other people about the uniqueness of their family journey. As the stories come in I am fascinated by the diversity of human experience on our globe and through the adversity and challenges of past generations have come a new version of our history. It is not that we necessarily live in a "better" time in history although with the technological advances we definitely live an easier life than our ancestors were able to. We still struggle with power and right-ness and the need to put ourselves before everyone else. We seem to have lost the humble roots and the ability to express ourselves with poignant insights through the ever expanding wealth of knowledge that we have access to. Have we adapted from or have we crushed our connection to the past?
I recently sat down to enter what information my husband had about his family, partly to capture his interest in what I do and partly to help myself to understand this list of names that had no faces and no stories for me. In the course of one weekend I put his family back into the 1600's on 3 continents. Swiss/German, Swedish, Scottish and French Canadian. In the course of 3 generations or approximately 180 years they had come together from all those areas to two parents that begat my husband. What are the chances of that happening, so many variables could have changed everything and often does through wars and human struggles.
I think of so many stories that I have discovered and are locked in my own experience but which can inspire others to be aware of the family's stories before they are lost from the telling. Stay tuned as the book unfolds...
I have always believed that the universe delivers the opportunity when the time is right and the stars must be in line ! I recently put out a call for submissions for a book plan that I am putting together that will share the type of achievements that I mentioned above, only instead of writing ad nausea about my own family stories I will be sharing some FANTASTIC stories from many other people about the uniqueness of their family journey. As the stories come in I am fascinated by the diversity of human experience on our globe and through the adversity and challenges of past generations have come a new version of our history. It is not that we necessarily live in a "better" time in history although with the technological advances we definitely live an easier life than our ancestors were able to. We still struggle with power and right-ness and the need to put ourselves before everyone else. We seem to have lost the humble roots and the ability to express ourselves with poignant insights through the ever expanding wealth of knowledge that we have access to. Have we adapted from or have we crushed our connection to the past?
I recently sat down to enter what information my husband had about his family, partly to capture his interest in what I do and partly to help myself to understand this list of names that had no faces and no stories for me. In the course of one weekend I put his family back into the 1600's on 3 continents. Swiss/German, Swedish, Scottish and French Canadian. In the course of 3 generations or approximately 180 years they had come together from all those areas to two parents that begat my husband. What are the chances of that happening, so many variables could have changed everything and often does through wars and human struggles.
I think of so many stories that I have discovered and are locked in my own experience but which can inspire others to be aware of the family's stories before they are lost from the telling. Stay tuned as the book unfolds...
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Spring has sprung
How wonderful is it to see green grass... and I mean really really green. My yard is like a park thanks to hubby's early feeding with fertilizer and most things have leafed out and look happy and healthy. I say most because the Crimson Maple in my front yard is not happy... not happy at all ! I am not sure what it is trying to tell me other than with the wet year we had last year and the frost that came while leaves were still on the tree, well, I just hope it doesn't die ! I can't believe we drowned it with kindness as it is 3 years old now. I feel like a parent and that somehow I have not been responsible in it's caretaking. Sigh. And, in the backyard an equally unhappy grafted Lilac tree which didn't seem to bud out at all. Everything else is happy and blooms have started to pop.
In my constant world of genealogy hunger, I have set some goals and plans into action. I have a book idea and am looking for input in all the right places. The internet is a great networking tool and I hope to reach out for others to tell their story as well. That will be a topic for another blog as things unfold.
I read a little blurb tonight about the last century and it is truly amazing how far we have come in 100 years.
My husband and I were just talking the other night about the first color TV and eight track players and some of the various other changes we had seen in 50 years. It seems like we are quantifying yearly and the internet is feeding our curiousity and teaching us new things about ourselves and each other. I have always hungered for a mechanism like tv to be a learning tool instead of a mere entertainment and finally we can watch documentaries and learning shows at any hour of the day. Not to mention Youtube, skyping with friends and constant monitoring of everyone via Facebook. We can take pictures on our cellphones, or even videos , when we feel that we need to record something critical like.... a grandson's motocross race, and broadcast it to our world of contacts and beyond. Of course, with this diversity come another learning curve. Luckily for me I have always been fed by an endless curiousity and try my best to explore the world available at our monitor.
If our ancestors could see us now, as they made their candles from tallow, washed in a washbasin , scrubbed their clothes by hand and hung them on the clothesline. They would truly think they were on another planet wouldn't they?
In my constant world of genealogy hunger, I have set some goals and plans into action. I have a book idea and am looking for input in all the right places. The internet is a great networking tool and I hope to reach out for others to tell their story as well. That will be a topic for another blog as things unfold.
I read a little blurb tonight about the last century and it is truly amazing how far we have come in 100 years.
My husband and I were just talking the other night about the first color TV and eight track players and some of the various other changes we had seen in 50 years. It seems like we are quantifying yearly and the internet is feeding our curiousity and teaching us new things about ourselves and each other. I have always hungered for a mechanism like tv to be a learning tool instead of a mere entertainment and finally we can watch documentaries and learning shows at any hour of the day. Not to mention Youtube, skyping with friends and constant monitoring of everyone via Facebook. We can take pictures on our cellphones, or even videos , when we feel that we need to record something critical like.... a grandson's motocross race, and broadcast it to our world of contacts and beyond. Of course, with this diversity come another learning curve. Luckily for me I have always been fed by an endless curiousity and try my best to explore the world available at our monitor.
If our ancestors could see us now, as they made their candles from tallow, washed in a washbasin , scrubbed their clothes by hand and hung them on the clothesline. They would truly think they were on another planet wouldn't they?
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
If today is the day.......
Finally, the day has come to put my passion forward and let it guide the direction I want to go. I remember reading a saying about coming to the cliff and everyone was so afraid of falling... when finally they did come to the cliff they found they could fly. It kind of reminds me of the process that a baby bird goes through; if they were afraid forever they would never do what is natural for them. We all can fly in some way or another and sometimes it is fun to look back on our family's past to review how our ancestors before us survived things that must have frightened them as well. And yet, here we stand as proof that they survived. Hell, they didn't just survive.... they flew. We get so predisposed with our day to day story (drama) that we don't see the full picture of who we are and from where we came.
I like to watch the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" which takes a modern day celebrity and tracks their history back many generations. It is amazing to see how the characteristics in the person today is mirrored through the journey of many lifetimes before them.... absolutely amazing.
So, what is the story that came before you? We all know our parents, our grand parents but somewhere about that time something switches off and we lose connection with previous generations. Just put it in perspective... to your grand children's families you will be a vague memory. What seems intense today fades with time. Is that a fact or an illusion? I know for a fact that the stories are still there but it takes an experienced had to unfold the layers that build up to cover the line of decent. There is nothing more rewarding than to uncover a little known fact and know that it connects you to someone else.
For instance, in doing my own research and looking through census returns in England I found a great great grandfather that was a travelling salesman selling to the hotel industry. The irony wasn't lost on me that I had also done this job for over 6 years... Is it in your blood? I thought I was being so original !!!
If today is the day you discover something great about yourself... through the footsteps of an ancestor... wouldn't that be great?
I like to watch the TV show "Who Do You Think You Are?" which takes a modern day celebrity and tracks their history back many generations. It is amazing to see how the characteristics in the person today is mirrored through the journey of many lifetimes before them.... absolutely amazing.
So, what is the story that came before you? We all know our parents, our grand parents but somewhere about that time something switches off and we lose connection with previous generations. Just put it in perspective... to your grand children's families you will be a vague memory. What seems intense today fades with time. Is that a fact or an illusion? I know for a fact that the stories are still there but it takes an experienced had to unfold the layers that build up to cover the line of decent. There is nothing more rewarding than to uncover a little known fact and know that it connects you to someone else.
For instance, in doing my own research and looking through census returns in England I found a great great grandfather that was a travelling salesman selling to the hotel industry. The irony wasn't lost on me that I had also done this job for over 6 years... Is it in your blood? I thought I was being so original !!!
If today is the day you discover something great about yourself... through the footsteps of an ancestor... wouldn't that be great?
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