So, where was I… Oh yes, I was once a genealogist, then my mother decided she needed to sell a house. So we painted and painted and put it on the market and sold it and she moved and moved and now she lives here. And my son decided he was tired of high school and so he graduated, and went off to college. And my middle child, decided she was tired of her brother getting all of the attention, so she decided she’d become a senior. Her younger sister, not to be out ignored, decided to go off to middle school, have a few heart problems and so the stress of it all got to me and I quit my job. So now you all all caught up…
In all the months I was busy with the descendants and the one lone ancestor, I did not get any genealogy email. Even the TMG mailing list which can hit several hundred emails a day was fairly quiet. I bought a new computer and took 4 months to move everything from the old computer to it. Haven’t even opened TMG but three times since getting the new computer. So this is my plans for my first week as a newly unemployed woman…
Get my brakes fixed… Anybody besides me drive a mini-van? I swear I get the brakes on that thing fixed every three months. Doing carpool doesn’t help any. So tomorrow morning, me and the brake guy have our tri-monthly date. Hubby would be jealous, but I think he’s decided that I get a good rate by flirting a little. LOL I know this has nothing to do with genealogy, but the van does get me to cemeteries, libraries, and does sport my “First Families of Tennessee” license plate. It’s 12 years old, paid for, has been thrown up in, so as long as it runs, brake guy and I will continue our tri-monthly brake dates.
Then my best friend and I are going to go to lunch together. Her Hubby is unemployed as well. Well, between jobs actually and has a few days off, so he can watch Practice Grandson, so we can go out to lunch alone. Normally we take him with us, but it will be fun just us girls. We are celebrating me being home again and his new job, which will have him home more!
Then I am going to do my fall cleaning before I start my Christmas decorating, because man is this house dusty. How dusty is it? Well, lets just say that we went from two inside cats, to an inside dog and despite my best cleaning efforts, behind things is really dusty. And I hate putting up Christmas stuff without giving the house a good dusting.
Then I am going to start genealogy again, because this week alone I got three emails from genealogy researchers on my Holt line. And I have some cemeteries that need working on that I have been putting off. And I want to get a few more moved over from the website. I let my Footnote subscription expire, because I just didn’t have time to use it, but may ask Santa to get me a new one now that I am home again. I hear they are trying to get all the census, so that would be reason to renew, since I still have a few census enumerations I still can’t find.
And I am thinking of writing a book. Yup, you read that right. I am thinking of writing a book. May never get it written or published, but I am thinking of starting the process. Just for me. Because I am at the stage in my life where if you don’t try something how will you ever know if you can do it or not? And if it’s good enough, I may try and get it published and if it gets published, I will let you know. But mainly, I just want to write it so I can say that I did. You know, like knitting a sweater, or learning to sew.
And I am going to start organizing the research for my mother-in-law and father-in-law’s sides of the family. Scanning and organizing and getting it into some order where I can share electronically with distant relatives more easily.
Today in our Sunday School lesson we learned about the Joys in trials. The last year has been a trial. God has brought me through it finally. I can look back and see the joys. Mom is here and thriving. Her heart problems are doing much better and her health has greatly improved. She is happier and calmer than I have seen her in years. She is enjoying the time with her grandchildren. My oldest is settling into college, making friends, finding his way. My middle child is growing up and making decisions for herself, without a lot of interference from mom (me), allowing her to be more independent. My youngest is having some growing pains, but she is surrounded by people who love her and she sees that and I think it is helping her to realize that she has a great village of people raising her, not just mom and dad. These joys weren’t evident when we were on the pathway going through the last year. I can only see some of them looking back on the last year. At the time, it was hard to see much of anything through my tears. Now those tears of sorrow have become tears of joy as I see we have made it as a family. We are looking forward to our first Thanksgiving together as a family living together, our first Christmas. We are learning to give each other space, yet also make sure that each person feels included. Funny thing is, in all this time the one thing I feared the most has not happened. My mom and I have not had one single fight. We have not had one ill word to say to each other. We have just had the most wonderful times together. We have just enjoyed each others company. Yes, this year has been a big year of transitioning for our family… One kid off to college, another getting ready to go. A parent coming here for us to care for her. This year I became a sandwich. I thought I would hate it. But you know, it hasn’t been all that bad. Somebody pass the chips…
