About Me
To compensate for our quiet lifestyle, I took snapshots of milestone events. This hobby continued throughout adolescence and into my adult life. I never did much with these photos, however. They sat for years in a box under my bed.
In the mid-90s I attended a Creative Memories class. While I enjoyed creating colorful scrapbook pages, it was the Mission Statement that grabbed my attention:
- preserve the past
- enrich the present
- inspire hope for the future.
Organizing the photos into albums was a start. But a picture only captures 1/125th of a second. What about the moments leading up to the photograph - and the events that come after?
A picture may be worth 1,000 words, but I believe a written account completes the narrative.
In 2017 I delved into genealogy. Both my parents had passed, and I was approaching the third act of life. I thought learning about my ancestors might help me better understand my parents -- and me.
At first, my goal was to learn about my country of origin. As far as I knew, I was a southern mutt. In a short period of time, however, I realized genealogy put me in touch with those distant relatives I've yearned to meet since childhood.
My family is extensive with many distant cousins ... and the buried stories contained within the vital documents and census records need to be discovered and preserved for the next generation.
My passion for family history marries well with my passion for writing. As a recently retired English teacher, I can apply the lessons I taught my high school students to my own family narrative:
- How to research
- How to organize that information
- How to structure a compelling essay
- How to show and not just tell
- How to develop believable characters
- How to increase the tension that leads to a climax and then a satisfactory conclusion
- How to develop a theme and weave it throughout the story
I love this! Can't wait to learn more!
ReplyDeleteLiz... you are solely responsible for encouraging me to do "the best I can at the things I love to do and letting go of the inner critic." This blog is a result of that advice. Love you to the moon and back!
DeleteThank you for this new endeavor, which is exactly what I needed at this time to help me with my current endeavor of discovering my family history as well. I haven't shared too much of it in my blog yet, but now I believe it is time to start sharing what I am learning as I go. Thank you for this needed kick-start today!
ReplyDeleteThank you for visiting, Pamela! Isn't genealogy research fun (and addicting?!) I look forward to encouraging one another in our family history explorations.
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