A few weeks ago, I mused about recording family stories and how we need to just do it. Thegenealogygirl took the message to heart and flew to Spokane, Washington just to interview her grandma and other family members. In her “Trip Report in Brief,” she poses the question, “Why don’t I do this more often?”
Indeed, why don’t any of us do it more often?
Sometimes a blogger participating in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks will ask me if it’s ok to skip a week or they will apologize for a post being “so short.” (I’ve been guilty of that one!) My response is always the same: Write what you can. Anything you write is more than what you had before.
It’s the same with our stories. Any story you capture — however you capture it — is more than what you had before.
Funny you should post this article now. My husband and I were mulling over a possible trip to a mid-west conference this year. We tried to connect it with a visit with a cousin but the distance between the two didn’t jive. We reset our priorities and are now planning to visit just the cousin.
I’d say you chose wisely (Though if you were thinking about going to Midwestern Roots in Indianapolis, I’ll miss seeing you there!)
Hi Amy, thanks for the shout out. My trip was great and I gathered a lot of info but as always I left with more questions so I am preparing for another trip this summer and listing my questions now. I also learned something I could never post on my own blog – my mom is very detrimental to an interview. I’ll be sure to re-interview her uncle without her there. She doesn’t understand the importance of a pause while an older person is thinking. She derailed some great comments by him over and over again. So I’m counting that interview as a pre-interview. It really helped me to assess the types of info he might be able to share so now I can build some good questions. I’m glad she came and the other interviews went just fine because she had things to do at her mom and sister’s homes. It was a learning experience all the way around.
Interviews can be tough even under the best of circumstances! Having another person in the room is definitely a complicating factor. Don’t feel bad. You rarely get everything you want in one attempt. But it sounds like you’re doing a good job salvaging what you can and making plans for Round 2 — that’s great!
Thank you! I don’t feel too bad – that is unless something happens to Uncle Dan before I get back this summer… She means well and it was lovely to visit with her. She and her sister together are pretty funny.
So true! And I’ve realized I LOVe blogging! http://Www.gettingtoknowyou1.blogspot.com
That’s great, Karen! It does make for a fun and pretty easy way to share things about our ancestors.