Today I was totally sidetracked and distracted. Instead of working on art, I decided to go back to working on my family tree. With half of my family having been here for generations and then being first generation American on the other side of the family, I have quite the task before me.
I decided to take a shot in the dark and Google the name of one of my cousin's kids. I was stunned with what popped up. He was shot and killed a little over a year ago, the victim of just being in the wrong place at the wrong time while bad guys with guns were chasing someone else in a bad neighborhood. He was only 44 years old and had five children, three of which are very young.
On a more positive note, I found another family member from the other side of the tree. Quite by accident, I found her husband on Facebook. I love the internet! He was able to provide me with her email address and I was able to send her information I had as well as ask for information to fill in the blanks. For whatever reason, I seem to have been the sole recipient of all old family photos and film (it's a good thing since I'm the only one into genealogy). Being a source for these items gives me a good foot in the door when swapping information.
I miss having a sense of family. The life of a military brat means constantly moving. We were the only military family in our clan, so everyone else stayed in generally the same area while we moved around the country and across the globe. While my cousins were able to spend a lot of time with each other and with grandparents, we were lucky to see them every three years. Now that we're all adults, everyone is scattered and no one keeps in touch any longer. I am vowing to assume to role of "family gatherer" and we ARE going to reconnect! I am determined. How fun it would be for my children to have cousins from my side of the family that are more than just a faded photo to them.
