Originally published on genealogyatheart.blogspot.com on 8 May 2016.
Just back from the National Genealogical Society conference in Ft. Lauderdale and it was awesome. Wonderful to meet face-to-face with folks I have only interacted with online and some I haven’t seen in person in awhile.
The only downer was that a colleague of mine from my primary job had to cancel at the last minute due to a family emergency. She is working towards a PhD in creative writing and was looking forward to attending the writing workshops that were offered. Additionally, she is interested in family history and is the keeper of her family’s records so the conference was a great fit for her.
As genealogists, we typically place our family’s first so her disappointment in missing the conference was minimized by her right on priorities. This got me thinking of the lost opportunities that we often miss with our own family members. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to just have one hour with that brick wall ancestor (and maybe a translator included!)? Don’t you wish you could ask dearly departed Great Aunt Alice a couple of questions? Recording her answers would be icing on the cake.
Do yourself and the generations to come a favor and ASK TODAY your mom, grandma, and if you’re really lucky, great grandma, what you’re dying to know. Make sure you write it down (and seriously, cite it). It’ll be a Mother’s Day gift that will be appreciated long into the future. Enjoy your day!