Old Family

                                                                       Everyday is a brand new day,
                                                                        everyday is a journey.


O youth whose hope is high,

Who doth to truth aspire,

Whether thou live or die,

O look not back nor tire.

Thou that art bold to fly

Through tempest, flood and fire,

Nor dost not shrink to try

Thy heart in torments dire--

If thou canst Death defy,

If thy faith is entire,

Press onward, for thine eye

Shall see thy heart's desire.

--Robert Bridges.

If your family is anything like mine, you probably have relatives strewn all over the U.S. or even in different countries that you haven't seen in years. Some I've never even met. How does that happen? Well, easily enough.

When the kids were little, their cousins would be over daily. Our intermediate family saw each other all the time. For years, we've lived within three blocks of each other. We would be under each other's feet all the time. That is no longer true. Everyone is pretty much spread out from Florida to Wisconsin and beyond.

All this distance has affected our Holidays and get-togethers. Some of us haven't seen each other in years. I find that very sad, because things were different years ago. Distance places indifference and complacency within our hearts. The next thing we know, we make absolutely no effort at all to see one another. We just shrug it off and place the blame on the next guy. If they really wanted to see me, they would do so. Things work both ways, you know. 

So how do families stay in touch? Well, social media being what it is allows us to see one another in a click. Other families have yearly family reunions where they all meet at one particular spot for a weekend. That involves a lot of work! Usually a couple of people perform this task, not one individual.

That's where I'm at now. I want to know all of my family. We have family in Europe that I have been trying to get in touch with from my maternal grandmother's side. They have been living in Paris originally and now are in Sweden or Holland. How exciting is that? The original family member that moved there was my grandmother's sister and she died from ovarian cancer in her forties. Another reason I would love to know all about her. 

Learning about our ancestry is very important and not just for health benefits. I want to break family genealogical stumbling blocks that keep coming back generation after generation. How will we do that if we don't know the members? Or where they came from and what they have endured. More on that in the future, but for now, I hope you will reach out to your family members even those that do not want to keep in touch. It's difficult for people to forgive one another. Believe me, I have one I'm trying to reach. There is always hope so please do not give up.

Have a blessed day everyone.