Life in the Past Lane

I often refer to myself as decade-impaired.  I am still stuck in the 70's, especially when it comes to music and the price of anything.  When I fill up at the pump, I fondly recall the days when gas was 30 cents a gallon and $1.00 would keep my 1972 Maverick "dragging Main" for several nights in a row. 

Recently I joined Ancestry.com and found out that this is my crack cocaine.  I am totally addicted and I realize I have missed my calling.  I should have been an archivist.  I probably came to this conclusion when my scanner died of what I am sure was a premature death.  If I had a $1.00 for every picture I have scanned, I could almost fill up my gas tank now.  Actually, it would buy much more than a tank of gas because I have been sorting and scanning pictures for years. 

For Christmas I gave myself the Ancestry DNA test.  I was happily surprised to make contact with several cousins who have given me clues that are gradually unlocking my past memories.  I saw a picture of my great-great grandmother for the first time, and I realize just how much I look like my grandmother's ancestors.  My middle name and hers are the same.  I had no idea the name went further back than my mother.  I had no clue that the picture I recently found in my grandmother's photographs was a picture of her until I connected with other members on the web site.  When I found it I cried because I just knew I would never know who it was.  There is no one left to ask. 

In my searching I found out you have to know history.  Things like the fire that consumed the 1890 census, which is the very one I need to confirm some data on my paternal grandmother's side of the family.  It helps to know that there was a plague of yellow fever in the South around that time because it explains the row of young graves at the cemeteries you visit.  It reveals the mystery of why a trail of research suddenly grows cold because there was a war.

It is bittersweet to discover these things because the one person who would have loved to know these details the most is not here.  My mother died about nine months ago.  I am glad she was able to see the picture of her great-grandmother before she died.  Finding that picture is what cemented what I feel will be a long relationship with Ancestry.com.  Now when I am gone my grandson will be able to look back and know where he came from and have the pictures at his fingertips.  I hope it makes him as happy to know about his grandmother as it does me.