For many years my file cabinet housed several folders of family history holding random bits of information from various branches of our family tree. Attention to those files usually came and went in spurts. But when two back-to-back blizzards arrived in Feb 2010, snowing us in for days, it was a perfect time to dig out those files and warm the fingers in the keyboard fires of the Google search engines....
I typed the name of one of my great-grandfathers of whom I knew little about, took a swallow of hot chocolate and clicked SEARCH. Little did I anticipate what would happen next. A curious website called FIND A GRAVE popped up--along with a photo of his gravestone! I blinked in disbelief.
And so began a new adventure. One by one, people came out of cyberspace to help. Stories I'd heard in my youth of ancestors long deceased began to piece together. Never-before-seen photos surfaced through emails. Names and stories were added to the family tree.
Best of all has been the kind assistance offered by knowledgeable people and the pleasant introductions to 'distant cousins' who continue to show up along the way. To them I say, may your many kindnesses be rewarded and your journeys be blessed. In turn, I hope that I can pay your favors forward.