There are so many reasons why some of us can’t get enough of digging for old family records, seeing those War draft cards signed by our great grandfathers, the baptismal records from our great great grandmothers in the 1800s!
To go into the reasons why some of us are a bit obsessed isn’t going to be easy to explain,…..but I’ll try.
Personally, as an only child that heard about her dad being one of seven Irish Catholic kids, and her mom as the oldest of six Pilgrim Holiness kids of a preacher,….to know you have all these relatives but then to hardly ever see them. To grow up isolated in an area where no one knows any of your family, no one really asks or seems to care. That feeling of isolation, there just aren’t enough words to truly share what that feels like.
Then that day when you log on to one of the now very popular and accessible family history search sites, when those handwritten signatures start showing up! When you go from knowing nothing to finding such a rich and deep history of your family that you never knew, never even heard about.
I’ll put it this way, “Our American Dream sometimes feels like it turned into a social Experiment gone wrong!”
When broken down into the simplest of feelings, thoughts, and emotions; you just know it wasn’t meant to be like this. The independence that yes, our ancestors wanted and gained, actually turned into lonely nightmares for some of our families.
Mine in particular, found the paths of addiction, isolation, abuse, fear and anxiety all around. And then to make it worse, the ancestors kept moving geographically farther and farther away from each other,….more isolation.
I am the generation of strength and personal independence gone way too far! Middle age, and finally realizing why my mind, body, and soul is completely depleted. I really wasn’t ever meant to do all of this life living on my own.
There are people out there that actually look like me, have the same family roots, know some of the reasons, the joys, the losses of our family, and have some of the stories that are meant to be shared and passed on,….
Well, I’m finding them now. My family lines went from dropping of the face of the earth, unknown to anyone, to now probably being over documented! Hey, I’d rather find and share the stories than for them all to be lost. I know for a fact that I can’t continue to grow if I don’t know my roots, for better or worse.
Just to know my history is giving me such a feeling of belonging. And that’s why I think the family history websites are absolutely blowing up right now with new users. We’ve gotten to that implosion point, people are tired of feeling alone and ready to do something about it. Finally!
Live, Laugh, Love with everything you’ve got, while you still can! 💜✨ Thank you so much for stopping by. I truly appreciate and value all of you.
