Who am I?

Since my father died, I've been toying with the idea of making a family tree. My father was excellent at telling family stories and I regret that we didn't record them in some fashion before he passed. I have never started a tree before simply because it seemed like it would be a lot of work and it's a totally selfish thing to do, besides family who else will be fascinated to know where I originated? Well now that we've moved, I find myself sitting at home with time on my hands, normally - read that as if I were back home with my friends - I would be out and about doing odd crazy things with my partners in crime but since I am here in a new town, I've become something of a home body. While unpacking some boxes I came across a list written by my Great-Grandmother that detailed her immediate family. I became curious as to where it all began so off to Ancestry.com I went and boy have I had fun! It's time consuming but oh so interesting! It's neat to see just how far back we can be traced (currently we have reached 1450) but it's also fun to think about what the lives of these people, my people, were like. I compare the dates of their lives to known events in history and I wonder where were they when these things happened. I wonder about the grief several of the mothers must have felt when their babies died within the first year of life or at the tender age of eight. I wonder at the thoughts of the young girl who married at the age of 13 to a boy only 15! Was it an arranged marriage? Were they madly in love? What of the man who was married to three separate women, did he love them all or just the first and the others he married to care for his children? How long did the woman long for a child only to have one at the age of 40, this is in the day when most people were dead by 50. What must if have been like to be one of 14 children! To have sons on both sides of the civil war. To hear the rhetoric that led to the Revolutionary war. All I can say is I am currently entranced with history - my history!

Random Digression - I just watched a Cardinal steal a muscadine, guess it's time to harvest and make jelly!

I will leave you with the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Rain Perry's Beautiful Tree:

• Bent or broken it's a family tree
• Bent or broken its 'a family tree
• Each branch a part of a part of me
• This is my tree and it's a Beautiful Tree!
• Dwarf or giant it's a family tree
• Dwarf or giant it's a family tree
• Growing just as tall as it was meant to be
• This is your tree and it's a beautiful tree
• What a beautiful tree!
• Strong or fragile it's a family tree
• Strong or fragile it's a family tree
• See how the sun shines through the leaves
• This is our tree and it's a beautiful tree
• What a Beautiful Tree!
• Sure it's broken but it's a family tree
• sure it's broken but it's a family tree
• I can feel the sap running through me
• This is my tree and it's a beautiful tree!