When was the last time you looked around your house for old letters and cards? Maybe you're one of those people who has saved everything from your loved one throughout the course of your relationship and has them all placed into a box that you will do something with "someday." That's totally me. I have boxes and stacks of things sitting around that I have been saving for that "someday" to occur. At least I'm organized about it. I have a section for all of the notes, letters and cards from my love and folders bursting at the seams that are filled with every single paper my kids have ever brought home from school. Okay maybe not every single paper, but you get the point. I must say that I credit my not being able to throw anything away to my grandma Julie. She was the epitome of a pack rat, but I have found a ton of value in her pack rattiness. Is that even a word??? Anyway, I have found that there is a treasure trove of information available to me that I didn't even know I had because I never bothered to look past the stack of stuff that still needs a home.
How many times I have wished and hoped for some kind of break to happen and there would magically be a letter from one of my ancestors to another that would explain something I was stuck on or would help me past a brick wall. Ha! If it were only that easy right? Then I realized that even though I can't control the information that I don't have and will possibly never know, I can control what is out there for future generations to see. My family history isn't going to stop with everyone before me or even with my kids. It's constantly going to change and the more information I have and preserve now, the more I can pass along a little of my life to future generations.
Now the light bulb goes on in my head. This is possibly the "someday" that I've been waiting for. Could this finally be the end to those boxes and folders I've been moving around for 10 years? It's definitely a start. Now I just have to figure out how to organize it all... I just recently realized the value of all of these things when I ran across some old paperwork that was in a storage unit my grandfather has. While moving boxes and going through things, we found old newspapers from 1940 that were held on to, but I couldn't figure out why. After all, he was only 5 and my grandma was 4 back then. Why could they possibly have had a need to hold on to a newspaper for 73 years? Yes that's right, do the math, I'll wait. I kept folding it and unfolding it, looking for some clue as to why I had not just 1 but 4 copies of said paper. I mean, to have something like that must mean that whatever it was was front page news, right? After reading through many many many boring articles about things that had nothing to do with my family, I started flipping through the rest of the pages and scanning articles. Finally, on the next to last page of the paper, Bam! There it was! An article written about my grandmother who was dressed like Carmen Miranda and was singing and dancing to entertain the USO.
Talk about a find! The fact that she did that was no surprise to me. That was something I've known about for a long time. I just never knew about the newspaper article. During that search through those old boxes, I also uncovered a single page letter that was written when my grandpa got out of the Army. It basically outlines his military career and even gives some information about where he was going to work after he got out. Another great find! This paper even had his enlistment date and everything. I know I could have just ordered his records from the V.A but they take a seriously long time and it's kind of a headache.
The last thing I came across in all of those boxes was a bunch of schoolwork from my mom when she was about 8 or so. It's just a bunch of little books of stories, but it was interesting to read what she was thinking and to see her handwriting from when she was a child. Definitely something to keep and add to the already out of control stack of stuff that I'm trying to figure out what to do with. I'll just have to file that away in the "someday" pile. I just find that things like this help to paint a more intimate picture of the people in our family tree. These artifacts, for lack of a better term, are things that take the people and change them from names and dates on a page to people with hopes, dreams, and fears.
Is there more stuff out there? I'm reasonably certain that there is far more stuff out there shoved in the back of someone's drawer that they've forgotten about and I just have to find it. There is something to be said for being nosy and keeping your eyes open for something valuable to your research. I have found that even though it may be tedious and boring sometimes to sift through a sack full of crap that you're never going to need (or want), the moment you find that single typed page or handwritten letter that helps you paint a more complete picture of an ancestor, it all becomes worth it. Even if you never get to your "someday" stack or box, take the time to make one. "Someday" one of your descendants may be sifting through your stuff trying to answer the same questions about you that you are trying to answer right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment