Wow! Big subject! Enough in my head to write a whole
book about or even two or three. Maybe someday I will. :)
Through the past 30+ years I have studied history in a
different way than when I was a student in school. Though I have consulted books and online resources through years of research; I have come to
understand what happened in past times much more by sifting through old photos,
autobiographies, letters and journals, census records, vital birth and death
records, etc. of the wonderful group of people I call my family. I have completely adopted all of Kevin’s family as
mine also.
This is logical to me since we are nearing our 50th
wedding anniversary and now have an ever-increasing group of grandchildren to
love. Looking at the different personalities and physical characteristics of each
of our descendants, we see reflected in their talents and individual traits,
many shadows, and memories of past loved ones.
As new family members join us through marriage,
adoption, and birth, we come to blend in a unique story that is much bigger than
our own singular lives. The fact that we are here and all part of that story
tells us we come from a long line of survivors. For them life went on without hand
sanitizer and paper towels, iPhones and world news refreshed every 10 minutes.
They quietly lived through wars, deadly epidemics, and
other catastrophes by simply doing their daily work, using soap, water and a heavy dose of common sense and,
for the most part, taking care of each other with the best knowledge they had.
All of them were people with faith in God though they
belonged to different religions. Like us, they had sometimes overwhelming
adversity, weaknesses, failures, fears, and challenges along with the better
days of their lives.
By taking the time to learn their stories we infuse power
into our own lives. We know we also can rise higher than fear or occasional personal
failure. We can endure the tough times and improve, knowing that if they could
do it… so can we.
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