I'm a retired VA employee now roaming Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia searching for ancestor's graves...

My wife asked me one time, "Why do you spend so much time researching people that you don't even know?"

I answered her by saying, "Why do you spend so much time playing puzzle games on your iPad?"

She said, "Well, it's relaxing taking all the puzzle pieces, figuring out where they go, and making a nice picture."

I said, "I do the same thing. My "puzzle pieces" are birth records, marriage records, military records, newspaper articles, obituaries, etc. My "pictures" are real people. If I'm lucky, a distant relative may find that picture a hundred years from now."