Present meets the past.

A long time ago, in a world far far away, there was woman.
She married a man who had been married before, whose children where all grown up and were having families of their own.
They had a son.
One son.

The family that came before, grew forward and often was not forgiving to the woman who had fell in love with the man. That meant, that their children never really got to know their Uncle, who of course was the same age as they were, if not younger.

Time passed, as did people, and we find ourselves in the today.

Keith and I, along with his sister and Mother (while she was alive) are all involved in genealogy. To say that it is a hobby is an understatement. It borders on an obsession.

That woman, who fell in love all those years ago..was my Grandmother. My Father's mother. I have spoken of her before..it was she who taught me to love classical music..and introduced me to the joys of reading aloud. Big-Gramma, I used to call her. She married my Grandfather, had my father...and life went on.

Grandfather died in 1976. Big Gramma died in 1990. With them, died any information about the family name.  The children from the first marriage where always...distant to me. I knew them, or some of them. But their children, who would be my generation are so much older than I am. If this helps....My Father's step sister..Ruth..will be 100 yrs old this December. My Father? 65. Her  children are in their 70's. I am 40.

See how we could end up being distant.
Oh..one other thing.
Apparently they did not like my Grandmother very much.

How do i know this?
Because a few months ago. I started talking to one of my cousins.

We found each other on the Internet..he had posted some family information on a genealogy forum. And i wanted to know why there was a part of the family missing. My part to be exact.
Turns out, he is the son of my Father's step sister. And he has not seen my Father since the early 60's.

But that is about to change.
Turns out Jack will be in my part of the country in May. He lives in Florida now with his family.
But in May, he, my Father and I will be meeting for lunch. Where I will get to meet my cousin for the first time. We have exchanged pictures, and his first response was that I looked just like Big Gramma. I have been told this before, but never by someone who did not KNOW us. My response...he is the spiting image of my Grandfather...or should i say our Grandfather.

He is coming armed with old photos....I am bringing Big Gramma's Diaries. I have them all..they offer a glimpse into their lives, and how Grandfather was towards the end. I am hoping that they will let him see her in a different light. See her as the woman she was...the woman who happened to fall in love with our Grandfather all those years ago.

Today would have been her birthday. She would have been 100 years old today.

Comments

[Keri]

Awesome tale of the past, Kimby. Hope the meet up goes as you would like. Love this...

[Keri]

Oh - more importantly, even BETTER tale of the present. :)

[creechman]

Nicely written Kimby. :)

[Shae]

AWESOME !!! Kim, I've got goosebumps and tears. This is so exciting ... to get some of the blanks filled in.
I understand the feelings. In that load of pictures from Jill was a picture of my bio-father. Had never seen him before and didn't think I cared until I actually held the picture in my hand. What a rush!!!!
Never mind getting to meet all of you last Fall. That will always be a huge highlight of my life.
Love you all.
XOXO

[Danielle]

Great post Kim. Hopefully, some much needed blanks are filled for you and your dad.

BTW, what forum was it?