Thursday, June 23, 2016

Why Of My Flesh and Blood for my Genealogy Blog?


Johnny Cash's "Flesh and Blood" song from his album I Walk the Line was an influence of part of the title and the Of My is because this is MY family's history and  no one's else.



The words are: 

"Flesh And Blood"

Beside a Singin' Mountain Stream
Where the Willow grew

Where the Silver Leaf of Maple
Sparkled in the Mornin' Dew
I braided Twigs of Willows
Made a String of Buckeye Beads;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

I leaned against a Bark of Birch
And I breathed the Honey Dew
I saw a North-bound Flock of Geese
Against a Sky of Baby Blue
Beside the Lily Pads
I carved a Whistle from a Reed;
Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

A Cardinal sang just for me
And I thanked him for the Song
Then the Sun went slowly down the West
And I had to move along
These were some of the things

On which my Mind and Spirit feed;
But Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need.

[SPOKEN]

So when this Day was ended
I was still not satisfied
For I knew ev'rything I touched
Would wither and would die
And Love is all that will remain
And grow from all these Seed;

[SUNG]

Mother Nature's quite a Lady
But you're the one I need
Flesh And Blood need Flesh And Blood
And you're the one I need. 
From Azlyrics

Seriously, when I started writing so much about my family's genealogy, it was overwhelming on the one site blog I was using and that blog's purpose was not to only exist for that purpose, so I decided to start this blog and its only purpose was to discuss my family's genealogy and some interesting and yet frustrating subjects I have come or will come across and this gives me a place to vent. 

Besides, I'm still looking for ongoing family, so I figured if someone who is family stumbles across this blog, they have a way to contact me. Then later, as the term of no issue came up for myself and my husband, it was a way to have the information out there for the future generations even after myself and my husband are gone. Why? Because the way it stands now, we have a no issue or we cannot have children, so our genes and memories of us will be gone after we are. This way, the information I've found can live on and any future generations can find the information I've tried to so hard to find.  
 
A picture quilt is a great way to remember ancestors

Before the no issue issue, one of the groups I'm involved with dared us to share what we've uncovered about our families. I sat down and thought of ways I could share information and this was one way to share information of generations past. This dare also lead me to create a few groups on Facebook (Gauquie/ Larson, Wojtkowski/Slepowron/Gardner, Ostrzycki, just to name a few) so information can be shared this way as well. Besides, what's the use of doing all of this work when it just sits there and no one learns from it?

An online timeline of your ancestors
Finally, on top of the above reasons (as if it weren't enough), I have started to put together my grandmother's documents and images of her life along with other information which might have affected her and her family, but its very slow going. First, I'm not confident enough with my writing to attempt something to big and, as one of my past managers have told me over and over, I'm a perfectionist. To do something that is not perfect would annoy me and frustrate me. Guess what? I hate to admit this but she is and was right. I'm still struggling and will continue with it, but its taking me a really long time to do this. 

Overall, the reason why I have this blog - its because things that are written here are because these people are OF MY FLESH AND BLOOD. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't exist and I have to pay homage to this fact.