Family-do: Visit graves.
Oh...I don't see this as a down side at all (for Cap1
), at least it's not when our family does it. Sure, there are those you miss horribly that bring a tear to your eye that you wish were still here...on the other hand...
We try and use it to remember all the good times...like when on our third "date" (high school sweeties), my girlfriend (future wife) and I were studying in her living room (it's halloween)...the doorbell rings and it's her blind Carin Terrier with a sign around his neck that says "Trick or Treat"...within minutes, the doorbell rings again and it's her 93 year old grand mother...she smiles and says "Trick or Treat"...then looks at me with a grandmotherly eye regarding her granddaughter and waggles a swinging finger..."No Treats for you young man!"...in a faint German accent. I laughed til my sides ached!
We go see her grave when we are in North Chicago. We both cry and then remember that story...how can you NOT laugh.
Not only that, so few families get to really remember those who have been a part of our family past. My sister is an excellent family tree researcher and many times gets requests to research families who on their own can't go back further than 4 or 5 generations. If folks do not visit and share the stories of their ancestors they might never pass it on to their children.
For one family, she found, had two great-great grandfathers who were veterans of multiple Civil War battles...and survived them all...and that one ancestor was a WWI solder but never saw service---he died in the great Spanish Influenza Epidemic instead. Great Uncle Died at Duren, Germany and was buried at Maargratten, Holland--his wife is still alive--They never knew. One distant cousin was a Hollywood actress and TV gameshow staple, and yet another distant cousin was a highly successful country music star. They never knew.
Without families remembering, sharing, honoring....future generations will never know where they came from.
ROX
