Saturday, June 14, 2008

Square Pegs in the Family

It's been a while. The weather is warm so I have no excuse except for lack of funds and an abundance of laziness. However, next month I plan to make my pilgrimage to archives and courts and distant relatives.

During my hiatus, I almost lost my focus. Often genealogy is a lonely quest. My nest just became completely empty, so I was wallowing in my aloneness. I assailed myself with how I don't seem to fit in with my family or even my community.

During my wallowing, I remembered something. Many, many years ago I visited my late aunt Pauline Cotten and was surprised to find out that she collected dolls and Lladros figurines. I collected dolls and love Lladros, too. When my cousin Kenny Williams passed away four years ago, I found out she had an extensive collection of dolls. That affinity for collecting dolls and figurines must run in the family.

That is one of the incentives for me to research my family-- to discover how I do fit in. I am not the square peg. Or if I am, I believe there are few of us in this family and we do fit. So this is me, snapping out of it and getting back to work.