Reveling In This Moment
Image courtesy of Microsoft Office Images
About a year ago, I connected with a Jones family cousin. I believe it was through Ancestry.com. Anyway we started to correspond via email and even spoke on the phone. She sent me pictures of her grandparents and of several other relatives. I enjoyed the pictures she had sent but I didn't see at the time how they truly fit into my large genealogy puzzle. Well, that's not exactly true. I saw where they fit but I didn't feel it. The pictures I had received hadn't become people yet. They were still just pictures. That's because I didn't know yet about the neighborhoods in which these ancestors lived, who they married, or where they went to school. I learned some had became dentists. Another was a fisherman and yet another had worked for the postal service. I didn't know that a year later, I would connect with another Jones cousin who would be searching for information on her grandfather and how it would turn out that her grandfather and this other cousin's grandfather were brothers. It all started to come together. These were my people and those pictures I spoke of before at last had taken on flesh.
So with that being said, I am reveling in this moment of understanding and connection. I find myself smiling unconsciously as I sip on coffee and daydream about my ancestors.
The puzzle analogy is spot on! Continued good successes!
ReplyDeleteBernice, I know exactly how you feel, and it is such a wonderful feeling. I find that as I look back over data I collected earlier, I am finding so many clues and pieces, because I am more advanced in my abilities. Now I am focused this year on finally writing it all up, even though I know I will never be finished;)
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. The work never is finished. :)
DeleteI like your sentence, "I saw where they fit but I didn't feel it." That expresses the mystery of the difference between jigsaw pieces and people. So many layers within people, so many connections. Relationships that define people and fill them out. Like a jigsaw puzzle with more than 3 dimensions. That's really a wise sentence and blog post.
ReplyDeleteThanks Mariann!
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