My Insanity Project has gone from feeling huge to feeling the enormity of what I have at my fingertips, my feet, my desk top.......my entire office. I am surrounded by antiquity. And, by enormous, I mean I feel so very responsible for the family history I have been keeping all these years.
Just recently, I was back in my hometown and a family member asked me how I came to have all of the family photos. Mind you, these photos go waaaaaay back to Great-great-greats on both sides of my parents' lineage. Some of these photos must have been taken when photography was in its infancy. The reason I ended up with all of the family photos is because their mass took up the entire interior of a rather large cedar chest. One sister lived over a thousand miles away and shipping wasn't an option for her. The other sister declared she didn't want them and so they went home with Capt. SO and I along with other family treasures in a rented U-Haul trailer. I have dutifully kept them for almost fifteen years now, not realizing what a priceless family treasure I had in my possession until I began the Insanity Project.
My family - siblings, grandchildren, etc. - made rather merciless fun of my mother because she kept everything. She was not a hoarder.....not by any means. What she did was keep boxes, folders, large envelopes, photo albums, and scrapbooks filled with what one might call mementos, along with pictures, letters......I can't begin to describe what she kept.......but looking through it all has given me the feeling of really knowing these ancestors of mine in an intimate way that I didn't think was possible, given the chasm of years that have passed since their deaths.
I am now filled with an energy to continue working on this project that is almost like a master's degree in geneology for my family. The family history present in my office is irreplacable and I can only hope to complete it in a timely and organized way. I am in awe of the gift my mother and father left, with pictures that actually have people's names and relationships written on the backs of them so that my job is made that much easier.
I feel buried but I am at least buried with the past of my relatives. I am in good company and I can feel their presence. It is as if they are cheering me on.
Someone has to. The enormity has hit me square in the face!
Ancora imparo
