What I Know Now

A few weeks ago Randy Seaver asked in Saturday Night Fun, “If I knew then what I know now, I would have…”  As I was searching for an answer the question became tangled up in my mind with the controversy following Roots Tech about how to welcome young people into the world of genealogy.  The answer came pretty quickly.

Are you kidding Randy?  What would I have done differently?  I would have RUN.  Yes, run, on legs that moved a lot faster before they spent all their time sitting in dusty archives or in front of a computer screen.  What is wrong with you all?  Who are these young people that you hate so much?  What have they done to you to deserve this?  Is it the way they dress?  Is their music too loud?  Have they threatened your social security benefits or worse, moved back into the house?

If you possess any shred of decency you should be telling them to RUN AWAY as quickly as possible, before they are ensnared in the evil web of family history.

I was just a young foolish thing when I was snared.  A friend had a story.  It was a great story.  I wish I could tell it to you, but I must leave that to her.  She showed me how to get started.  She failed to mention how many months, nay years, it had taken her to ferret out the story.

And then there is Pat.  I love Pat dearly.  If I had a sister I’m sure she would not be as dear to me as Pat, but Pat is EVIL.

“Hey, Jude, there’s a workshop at this place in Boston, the New England Historical Genealogical Society.  Why don’t we go?  You can stay at my house and we’ll drive in for the day.  It’ll be fun.”

And so it began: the missed meals, the children who barely recognize me, the family who run when I enter the room, the life savings gone to fund my habit.  Pat is responsible for all of it.

Here we are on the left before family history and here, on the right is a picture taken last week by our friend Ann.  Not only have we become immobile, but apparently the sadness of our story kills  surrounding vegetation.  Okay, that’s not really us on the left, but it could have been.

“Let’s do a blog together.  It’ll be fun.”  Do you see a pattern here? So now I sit in front of my computer desperate for something to say that won’t actually repel people or make my family hate me, wishing I could get back to searching for dead people.

The credit for the Boston Marathon picture is here.

The picture of not Judy and Pat can be viewed here.