Recently a friend asked me, “If you could only use one word to describe your life path what would it be?” I’m surprised at how long it took me to honestly answer the question. I’ll share the answer after I tell you about two subtle, but significant events that helped me uncover my word.
I'm a grandma and occasionally Grandpa and I have our young grandkids stay with us. Before a vist from the little girls this past summer their parents prepared a list for us of favorite foods and schedules and made sure blankies and special toys were packed. As prepared as I was for the long weekend, something surfaced that I wasn’t prepared for. It showed up at bedtime the first night when our oldest grandchild announced, “It’s time for bedtime stories.” I got up from the side of the bed where the three girls were snuggling and walked to a large bookcase across the room. The shelves are full of children’s books—the very books Grandpa and I read to our kids. I started reading a few titles out loud and was met with surprising resistance from the oldest. “Not THOSE stories Grandma…we want stories about when you and Grandpa were little.” My mind was blank as I searched inside for something worth sharing. “Every night Daddy tells us stories about when he was growing up,” she blurted.
”What can I tell them?” I silently asked myself. And then, the timber of my grandfather’s voice filled my body, and I remember being the child in a scenario much the same as this one. I could hear him telling every detail of his grandmother’s encounters with native Americans as a early settler in the West. I opened my mouth to speak, and out came one of the many family stories that have been passed down from one generation to the next...
...great-great-great-great grandpa was away on a day-long trip to town for provisions when three Indian braves on ponies rode onto the family homestead. This put a mighty scare in grandma Susan who was alone with the children. She wasn’t sure if the visitors were friendly or unfriendly. As they came closer to the cabin, she hurried her children inside, bolted the door and prayed. Quickly, as if a bolt of lightening had struck she had an idea. She stood and walked toward the door. The frightened children begged her to come back. She bravely squared her shoulders, opened the door of the cabin and walked out where she could be seen; she was totally vulnerable. What she did next surprised her and the three braves. She reached into her mouth, pulled out her false teeth and confidently held them up. The braves were shocked and not so brave anymore. They whooped and hollered, jumped on the bare backs of their ponies and bolted back in the direction they’d come. As the dust cleared, Susan could be seen kneeling in the dirt, teeth still in her hand as her young children gingerly emerged from behind the cabin door, safe.
The girls were spellbound--speechless. And I sat quietly on the edge of the bed.
And then, to break the silence, I said, “But that wasn’t the end of the braves.”
“Oh, no!” our middle granddaughter said in a whisper.
I continued, “The braves showed up for many days after with other members of the tribe. They lurked at the edge of the property until grandmother emerged from the cabin, teeth in hand. Each group bolted in a cloud of dust.
“What are false teeth?” the youngest asked.
“I’ll show you a picture on the Internet tomorrow,” I said.
Each night, at their request, I repeated the story, and added an additional tale about one of my childhood adventures. I gained a new awareness of the connections I needed to make from my great-great-great grandparents to our grandchildren. Each night I gained a stronger and deeper desire to find the stories my ancestors had left in journals and get them in a format for my family. I knew it was time to pass them on.
The weekend was filled with questions about false teeth, trading, pioneers, painted ponies and many other subjects I had taken for granted, because I knew about them. The girls wanted to see pictures of the people I told them about. When the girls went home I was left with a new passion. I wanted to find photos and stories of every ancestor as far back as I could go. A daunting task for sure, but I needed a way to make each ancestor a part of our home, life and conversations.
I called family members and wrote letters, and received amazing responses. With the efforts of many I located photos of all but three direct family members back four generations. A miracle! Through a series of uncanny events, I also found Geneartogy.com. I was so excited when I learned about this online company and how they can take scans of ancestral photos, names and dates and turn them into a beautiful family tree printed on an art canvas. Was it truly possible to have an attractive, convenient and permanent place to showcase our ancestors for our family to learn from and connect to?
I emailed John Groberg, Geneartogy.com founder and owner, and soon opened an account and compiled our photos and data online. I'm happy and excited to say that in the coming days we’ll have a beautiful family tree art piece to add to the "family wall" in our home. The tree is complete with names, dates AND photos. And it’s all been accomplished with the versatile and user friendly online tools at Geneartogy.com. Take a look at John’s own family tree below and see one of the possibilities available.
I think the greatest challenge and greatest satisfaction of the project was finding photos; I can hardly wait for the finished product. Like I said before, we found all but three photos and consider our searching and work a success. While in the process of deciding whether to “adopt” photos for the missing positions in our tree (with a note on the back-side of the canvas confessing that fact) or to have a three-generation tree something wonderful happened. Charlie (my husband) was rummaging through a random box in his office and he found a small stack of photos containing the three photos needed to complete a four-generation canvas. We were beyond excited!
As photos, names and birth/death dates were added to our virtual tree in my account at Geneartogy.com we could see the completed four-generational family start to emerge. When I couldn't find a few birth dates I used the resource websites listed on the front page of the website to find and verify information. Each time I had a question or needed help customer service responded. We also decided to use PhotoShop to turn each photo to sepia and also made the backgrounds look the same.
One day John brought finished canvases of his family to our offices. Looking at each, I was able to process the connections in his family, compare similar facial characteristics and comprehend the "big picture." I became more excited about our family tree and the opportunities our children and grandchildren were going to have connecting with "their people." After John left, I went home and wrote in my journal about how a simple question, a bedtime story and a website were leading me on a journey to a tree with strong roots.
Geneartogy.com provides a remarkable ancestral resource and an heirloom so valuable where family information and photos can be in one safe place for future generations. A lovely family tree with photos goes way beyond hand-written names and dates on traditional family trees.
If you’re interested in deeper family connections, check out the variety of family tree options at Geneartogy.com and explore the sites amazing functionality. Remember, it took me several weeks to locate the photos through my immediate and extended family, but the rest of the family tree assemblage was FAST and easy.
John Groberg has graciously offered Scrapbook.com members a limited-time coupon code for a discount on the family tree of your choice. I invite you to visit the website and check out the different possibilities for your family and your cherished photos. If you like what you see you can use the following code when the information in your account is complete and you’re ready to finalize your purchase. Act now, to take advantage of this offer and significant savings from Geneartogy.com. Could this be the holiday gift of a lifetime you've been looking for?
Your coupon code: SB15 (save15% at check-out on all purchases made by December 31, 2009)
You must register by September 30, 2009 and complete and purchase your family tree by December 31, 2009 for this offer to apply.
I think by now you've probably figured out the one word answer to my friend's question. If you guessed connections, you're right! My life path is all about connections--to family, friends and even strangers as you can see in the many connective functions here at Scrapbook.com.
Because you’re a scrapbooker, you’ll understand my next project. With our family tree finished and forthcoming I’m now focused on creating an ancestor story album. My hope is that the stories of ordinary people making good or not-so-good choices will be examples for me and my family as we make choices, now and in the future. Our family tree and this new album will be located in our family room for all to enjoy. I’ll share more about that album and how I'm making it in an upcoming blog.
Finally, I have a question for you. If you could only use one word to describe your life path what would it be?
