A Sense Of History...

Howdy folks

So, here we are again. Sunday. As I've mentioned several times before, Sunday is my day to kick back in the office and play my online video game. You know, I've wondered a bit to myself about why I have so much fun looking into the past... why cataloguing and chronicling the family history is of enough interest to me that I'd dedicate a day a week (ok, a little more some weeks, a little less other weeks) to uploading photos and poking through family stories.

Turns out it takes my Junior-High-School Girlfriend, the lovely Joanne, to tell me why. Jo and was my very first real-and-for-true girlfriend, back when I lived in White Bear Lake Minnesota (Go Bears) Over the years, we lost touch... you know how it is, boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy moves to Alaska... it's the classic story.

Recently, we re-connected... and I could not be happier to see where life has taken her! She actually runs a state park in Minnesota now, and she and her husband live on a firm out on the prairie. I've been following her blog 14 Acres ever since we "met" again online (she's got great tips on a lot of subjects... canning, separating lard, how best to buy meat from a farmer... seriously, check it out!)

I know, I know... I'm getting off the point. Jo added this post to her blog on the advent of her 39th birthday... and, in a funny kind of way, she explained why I spend my Sundays this way. It's all about history - our place in it is due to those who have come before, and what we do to make history now will inform the actions of those who come after us. A pretty simple concept, really... but comforting in a way too - the knowledge that we're part of something. A cog in a machine, a character in a story, a link in a chain... use whatever metaphor you want to.

And, besides, what the heck... it's cool to un-earth the dirt on people, anyway. Did I ever tell you about my ancestor who got shot in a land dispute...

-Harold