Genealogy

Genealogy is something I've worked on since I was 15 years old.  I would pick it up for a while, then drop it again because traveling to various parts of the country was out of the question.  With the advent of Internet connections, and the wonderful folks at Ancestry.com, I've managed to trace my family line back to some surprising results!  An example is one branch of the family that I thought was Irish, but turned out to be from Belgium!  My sister and I have recently found out more information, and that has been added to the family tree as well.  Another fun example was finding out I'm related to someone named Sherwood in England!  No, not Robin of the Hood, but how exciting to find out that in the mid-1500s one of my ancestresses was romping around England before she shipped out for the Colonies.  Then there was finding out that some of my relatives were Mennonites in Colonial Pennsylvania.  Who knew?

Now, it's not like I do this constantly, but it's like working a huge puzzle.  Eventually it gets to the point when you have to wonder about the real meaning of family.  At this point I'm looking at hundreds of people who are related to me in the past, which means there's probably thousands that are related to me now through various side branches.

It really is a small world!

I also think that family isn't just about bloodlines, but about love and understanding.  I call my best friend my sister, because she is the sister of my heart and always will be.  We can pick friends who become family of the heart.  And who knows, maybe some day I'll find a branch that is related to her!