On Family

I come from a family full of stories. I do not know the names of all my ancestors, but my mother has a way of connecting every distant relative back to our modern family. This instilled a desire to create my own family tree.

I suppose my desire to create a family tree stemmed back to my childhood, when I saw an example of a family tree in a pictorial French-English vocabulary book that belonged to a distant relative. I grew up seeing many relatives pass through our home. I would not quite understand how, but I was always told we were related in some way.

As I got older and began puzzling the more recent history of both my parents' family history, I decided it would be best to write everything down. I was even more so motivated when I became an aunt and my niece began asking the same questions I did as a child: is so and so my uncle? How is so and so my family? Is so and so my cousin? How is so and so my cousin?

I realized I had trouble explaining how our second, third, and beyond cousins were related. I also noticed she had a unique position than I did at her age: not only did she have four living grandparents, she also had a living great grandmother. I had only met one grandmother in my lifetime, though I had been contact with both my grandmothers during my childhood. I grew up knowing my grandfathers through stories my mother would tell me. My father was not as open about his family history.

As far as creating my family tree, I have only a draft of my immediate family. It is a work in progress and I have been reminded often by others that it is a very time intensive project. I am committed, however, to ensure I have a record of my family history written down long before I take my last breath on Earth.

I am complete.