Random evening thoughts

I haven't had a good "writing" entry for a little while. So, here I am. It seems like I've been busy lately, though I don't have lots to report. This weekend, we went to Idaho Falls for a nephew's baby blessing (pictures to come later). It was really nice to spend some time with family and see our new little nephew, finally. He's adorable, with the chubbiest little cheeks. He still makes those little newborn noises that I love, and slept peacefully through all the chaos of a post-blessing family dinner party.

But this post is not about the baby blessing. What I started out to write about was that we stayed with my Uncle Hal and Aunt Janis this weekend, and I really enjoyed being in their home. They live in Blackfoot, where I grew up, and they've been some of my favorite "constants" -- always there for family occasion, always welcoming and supportive. Their daughter, Jessica, has been one of my closest friends as long as I can remember and I spent a lot of time in their home growing up. 

My Aunt Janis is really into family history, and has so much information about my mother's side of the family. I love hearing about her work, and talked with her late into the night, looking at photos she has collected and family pedigree charts she's organized. Have you ever listened to the stories of someone who has done a lot of family history work? I am amazed at some of the stories Janis -- and others-- have told me about how they've found a certain name, or cemetary, or date. And how compelled they've been to get their geneology in order. I hope my time comes when I "catch the bug," though I imagine it won't be right now, while I'm in the middle of the "small children" phase. 

One of the stories Aunt Janis told me was about my great grandmother -- my maternal grandmother's mother, named Callie. Callie was born in backwoods Tennessee and lived through some crazy times. She actually wrote a short life history when she was in her fifties, and Aunt Janis let me borrow a copy while I was there. I stayed up waaaay late to read it, couldn't put it down. I was fascinated to hear the voice of someone very directly related to me, who lived such a different life, so very long ago. 

She called her story "Tales of a Hillbilly Girl"and told about how her father kept a box of rattlesnakes and copperheads on the front porch, to show at a local carnival for money. Her bedroom as a child was right next to the porch, and she could hear the snakes rattling all night long. She wrote about seeing scorpions sunning themselves on the roof of their house -- 18 inches long! She told about eloping with her sweetheart because she knew her dad wanted her to marry the rich foreign neighbor and she didn't love him. She told about her rough mother-in-law she lived with for a time, who expected her to get up at 3 a.m. to do all the laundry and cooking for the entire house, every day. 

Callie eventually had 17 children, including two sets of twins who were stillborn. Did you catch that -- SEVENTEEN!?!? (And here, I struggle with my two, in our lovely new home with running water, AC, and automatic garage). She raised 13 children, including my grandmother, who is still living. 

I keep thinking about her. Not just her, but all my family and heritage. I grew up hearing stories my Grandma Hone told me about her parents leaving Kentucky and coming to Idaho to farm. I love feeling connected to these people in my past. I wish I knew more and felt closer to them. Sometimes, my lack of information and emotional connection to my past gets me started thinking about my own mortality in a sad, yet meaningful way: a hundred years from now, will one of my relatives remember me? From all my journaling, photos, and records, what will anyone be able to conclude about my personality, my beliefs, my character? Deep thoughts, I know. Maybe that's partly why people get so involved in family history work -- it's a circular hope for our own future, that someone will remember us, down the road a century or two from now. 

Who knows? Maybe the blog will be so catching, it will still be around then?? Immortality, here I come.