Genealogies

He comes in the Library just about every day, this quiet gentleman with the baseball cap, long white sideburns and silver glasses, and sits quietly in front of a computer for hours. I never really gave it much thought. We have a number of community people who are early risers and come to have a cup of coffee and read the newspapers. We call them our regulars. You get to know them after awhile. Yesterday, a colleague raised the question of what they are doing online half the day, these elderly people. I must confess, I had no idea what would rivet them to the screen for hours on end.

Today I was at the helm (aka Circulation Desk) from 8 to 1 because it was break and quiet and the rest of the staff were either off or coming in later. As this gentleman came in, I nodded hello, and he remarked on how quiet it was. "October break," I mentioned. It opened up an engaging conversation about his life's careers - yes, multiple - and how he now is retired even though he would rather be working. Now he spends his time doing genealogical research about his family and his wife's family. He had traced his own family back to the 1200's and his wife's family back to the 1400's - quite an accomplishment!

He had been surprised to learn along the way that he had fairly close relatives living just down the road from his house, and that his wife's family had been Free Methodist before coming to this country. The world is a smaller place than we realize. I have a friend in Illinois who also enjoys the hunt of connecting the dots, figuring out people's pasts, tying things together. Last time I visited, he took a look at my family's history, picking through scads of information to follow the clues of names, dates, occupations.

My Mom did a family history for us kids back when computers were less viable. She didn't have the benefit of ancestry.com to help out. Nonetheless, I have a beautiful scrawling family tree tucked carefully among my important papers, preserving them for my children and grandchildren.

What is there about looking at our past that is so intriguing? We say its fun to dig around and see what skeletons fall out of our closets. Really, its much more than that. It is about being connected, about belonging, learning about ourselves through our family connections. Good, bad, or indifferent, it is who we are.

Of course, the other side of that is what picture we will leave for our great great greats when they dig us up in whatever format the future allows. I hope I leave a legacy worth reading!