Life is too short...

[Karen]

In my family, I end up with the old pictures, and my sister ends up with all the sheet music!

I tend to be the communicator in the extended family - for example, there's one cousin (from what I called the 'twisted' branch of the family tree) that only ever kept in touch with my mother. Since she died, I kind of inherited him - he also sometime's sees Lady's Human on AOL, but his communication is very spotty. His sister once told me that, if it were possible, she would have "divorced" her brothers, which to me is very sad.

When we bought this house from my Great Aunt, and I started cleaning it out, I found lots of pictures - my great-grandmother's photo album, including pictures of her mother and sister, etc. One of the albums I found I spent a weekend scanning in, and brought a printout to my Great Uncle's funeral for his son. He immediately started flipping through, identifying people for me, and came across a picture of his own father as a boy in his baseball uniform and said "Oh my word! I didn't know Dad played catcher as a kid! I did, too! I never knew that!" Moments like that are priceless.

[Grace]

Pictures and papers - more important than $$ any day.

6 years ago, after my Aunt Doris died, I got a couple of boxes, full of paper and pictures. Going through one of them I found grocery store receipts, photos, newspaper articles - and the the letter. A letter written to my aunt by her brother - my father.

You have no idea what this meant to me. My father died when I was only 5. At the time I found the letter he had been gone 55 years. I barely remember him, and had never seen his handwriting. I didn't know he had such a sense of humor - and he was dying from a brain tumor. I sat and cried; I'm crying now.

You did good, Donna. Your uncle is going to be so very happy to go through those memories.

[DJFyrewolf36]

God Bless you for your kindness. I'm a hard person to move to tears...(really!) and your story almost had me teary-eyed (It would have but hubby and a friend are in here talking and they'd think I was nuts lol)

You've gained good karma points my friend.

[Pawsitive Thinking]

A very moving post - well done you!

[moosmom]

I spoke to my uncle again last night and I learned SOOOOO much about my family from him that I never knew. He's been tracing the geneology in our family and found out that the Vadakin family (my Mom's maiden name) is originally from Ohio! My grandfather "Bumpy" was raised by his stepmother (actually his aunt) because his mother died giving birth to him and his Dad ended up marrying Bumpy's aunt. My grandfather also had an older brother named John Never knew THAT either!!! I also found out my great-grandfather was deaf and so was a distant cousin (connected with MY hearing problem perhaps??).

He gave me my cousin's (his daughter) phone number and she and I talked for a good hour. She said I had no idea what this meant to her father AND to her and her 3 brothers because they had absolutely NOTHING to remember anyone in the family. Her son is going to West Point in the fall (they live in New Mexico) and I told her I would LOVE to try and get together with her. We're definitely making plans for sometime in the future. I haven't seen her since she and I were 13!!!

Karen,

Look up disfunctional in the dictionary and you'll find my family portrait next to it!!!

It was a real experience last night and I am SOOO glad I did what I did. This weekend my daughter and I are going through the entire 2 boxes of pictures and sort them out. Should be interesting. At least now she'll get to see what my Mom looked like later in her life.

[Sara luvs her Tinky]

I haven't seen her since she and I were 13!!!

That will be fun!!

I wish I could be there when your uncle looks at the pictures... I bet he is really going to enjoy them!!!

[moosmom]

Sara,

Me too! I'm just so glad I called. Maryanne and I were really into our hair when we were 13. I had a "fall" (sort of a mini-wig) that attaches to your real hair. Well, then she got one. Even my uncle said he remembers all the fuss we made about it and having long hair.

When I talked to her last night, the first thing I asked her was whether her hair was long or short. She burst out laughing! We were like 2 teenagers on the phone again, giggling and going and on. It was wonderful!

I slept very well last night.

[CultureJunky]

Donna, that's just so great. It's wonderful to find out things you never knew, and make connections with family members you never met.
Im sure you've made your uncle so happy in his elderly years. I hope you have a great time meeting up with your family. Good luck