A Season for Everything, Everything in it's Season

My bunch

Mom is in San Antonio visiting my brother and his wife this weekend. I promised to keep the blog up for her, but yesterday I got so busy with my sweet monkeys (pictured above) that I flat forgot. My apologies. She'll be back late tonight.

I used to be like Mom when my girls were tiny. We'd pack a lunch, kiss our husbands good-bye, and spend over 9-12 hours at the Clayton Library in Houston on a Saturday in front of the microfilm readers or our noses in books researching. Not every Sat., but now and then. Those were exciting days for me. Mysteries discovered, mysteries solved, branches of the family tree reconnected. I even recovered for my husband's family a family bible and critical bible pages dating back to the Civil War. Woo-hoo!

But then I had a rash of babies, a total surprise to us. A nice surprise, but it changed things. (Multiples are a whole other animal!) When the twins were born, I found myself stressed out because I felt like I should still be spending Saturdays blurring my eyes with hard to read handwriting.

That's when someone said to me, "Remember, a season for everything, and everything in it's season." I realized that I had a new task for the next couple of years. Instead of doing research, I started collecting family stories. I collected photographs and labeled them. I started writing memories down and things I had learned. I made an effort to create moments that would become pleasant memories for my children, and myself. And I've taught my girls who are older now how to fill out their pedigree charts, and shared some things about those ancestors on them. I became a recorder of not just the past, but the present.

The libraries and I will become reacquainted soon. In the meantime, I have done a lot of work for the now, so that my generation doesn't become one of those that needs to be researched at a later date. There will be ample information for future generations to enjoy. :)