I've been working a lot on Geni lately. My Dad sent an envelope of documents. Dad has been sending me mail in the red, white and blue flat rate envelopes for as long as I've been away from home. The thing that makes that note worthy (since I'm sure he's not the only one to use these) is that he makes it a point to mention that he's sending me my mail in a flat rate envelope. To most an envelope is a means to an end but to Dad the envelope is the journey. It's one of the eccentricities I love about him.
As you might notice, Geni has been making me more introspective than usual. Tracking ancestors is a sobering and slightly depressing pursuit. If you're one of those people that would rather not contemplate your own mortality Geni is not for you.
The documents in my flat rate envelope were small in size but were big parts of my grandparents lives. They were the birth certificates, the marriage license, report cards, news paper clippings and finally the death certificates. My favorite was my Grandfather's military records. I've always had a great deal of pride that he served in Europe during WW II.
As excited as I was to have all of this juicy information to record for history's sake, I started getting a little sad when I realized that once my brothers, my cousin Carrie and I are gone there won't be anyone to remember my Grandparents. And of course thinking that thought leads to the inevitable, "I don't even have kids, I'll really be gone fast." Even celebrities don't stay around forever, just look at Walter Connolly? He was a pretty big name back in the 30's.
Oh well. Here one day, gone the next.
No comments:
Post a Comment