Over the last several post, I’ve been sharing memories with my readers. Some have been stories from my childhood. Others are tales shared with me about my parents’ or my grandparents’ lives.
Today, I return to my earliest post. This one was published over two years ago. It asks readers to join me, to share their stories and to share photographs that illustrate those stories. It’s a BIG ASK. But, boldly, I do it again.
somewhere over the rainbow
Like a rainbow, families begin and end in misty places we never actually see. Some of its colors we perceive quite clearly. Others are not so easily defined. But together all these hues represent who we are and what we can be.
Every known human society has had distinctive ways of constructing family relationships. All have recognized this web of intimate inter-connection as essential to human survival.
Our own contemporary Western culture is no different. The turmoil of immigration and mobility has severed our links to our ancestors. Feeling uprooted, yearning for connection, we turn to genealogists to find out who our great-grandparents were and where they came from.
That only gets us names and dates. It doesn’t connect people to one another. Even if I unearth some photos to go with the names, I mostly find myself staring at …..strangers.
Back to the Future
I cannot undo the past. But there’s another impossibility I may be able to pull off. I can travel “Back to the Future.” Before you start calling in the guys with the straight jackets, let me assure you that I am not planning on building a Time Machine.
Rather through memory and imagination, I will visit the past as I knew it and bring back stories of those times and those people, preserving them for today’s children and also for the children at the other end of the rainbow.
I invite you to companion me on my quest. Share your stories of our families’ past adventures and everyday events. Send me photos that illustrate those tales. Don’t limit yourself to the past. Today will soon be yesterday. So let’s hear what’s happening in the family right now, especially the funny stories that will tickle the ribs of future grandchildren and great-nieces and nephews as well.
sundays at nana’s house
Many of us remember a time when almost every Sunday, the extended family gathered at a grandmother’s or great-aunt’s home for Sunday dinner. It takes events of great joy or deep sadness to bring us all together today. This blog will be a virtual “Dinner at Nana’s House,” a place and time to celebrate that in some way everyone here is family.
I am reaching out to everyone I have been fortunate enough to call “family.” Here we’ll ask real questions, not fill in some fantasy quiz. We ask because we truly want to know the answers.
Asking is not probing. There will still be secrets. Every family has them. But we will so much more about each other than we do now. Day by day we’ll be more and more connected. Knowing will enable caring. Caring will engender a tradition of support. This will be our legacy.
abundance of connection
John DeJager’s Lake CabinMy life’s journey began in the midst of abundant family. On the day I was born my four grandparents lived nearby, my two uncles were fighting in World War II, one in Europe and one in the Pacific. As the first child of two oldest children, I did not, as yet, have any aunts, siblings, or cousins. Those would come later. I was, however, blessed with an abundance of great-aunts and great-uncles, a slew of second and third cousins, and best of all, two lovely great-grandmothers. It is my great hope that all these wonderful folks will star somewhere in the dramas to appear on these pages.
No more photos without names. No more names without faces. Future children of the clans will inherit the rich narrative of their origins. knowing where they come from will give them true direction as to where they can go.
“Families are like branches on a tree, we grow in different directions yet our roots remain as one.” https://www.treasurequotes.com/quotes/families-are-like-branches-on-a-tree-we-grow
Photo by Andrew ShelleyLet the Clan Gathering Begin.
It is really generous of you to spend your time chronicling the stories of your ancestors so that they don’t get lost.
Thank you. Please share things you remember that any of my memories set off.
Did you ever hear about how my dad (your Uncle Jimmy) got in the Marines? He told this story:
There was no draft for the Marines; only volunteers signed up. Dad had been drafted into the army and at the end of boot camp an officer from the Marines came to give a recruitment speech. All the newly minted Army recruits were asked to line up and hear the officer’s story. At the end of the spiel, the officer asked for volunteers to join the Marines. Knowing the dangers of the Marines in WWII, no one volunteered.
The officer handed out slips of paper and asked each person in line to write their name on the slip to drop it in a hat that would be passed down the line. As this was being done, my dad suggested to his buddy standing next to him in line that they only pretend to drop their names in the hat as it came by. After the hat was passed down the line, the officer began to pull names from the hat and he ordered each man, as his name was read, to take one step backwards. When this was completed, only my dad and his buddy remained in front of the line. The officer announced: “I see we have to volunteers for the Marines.”
I believe this to be true as dad was drafted into the Army but was discharged from the Marines.
Wow! what a story. I’m so glad he got home alive and we were lucky enough to have him in our lives for so long.