The Rest is Silence - Family

[6 Sep 2012 – As frequently happens while doing Family Research, my thoughts pause and ponder the 'doings of the folks' that came before me.  So much will NEVER be known about their lives -- births and deaths, marriages and children, loves and hate, successes and failures, triumphs and challenges—just so much is LOST.]

INTRODUCTION

 

I have so MANY questions that will NEVER be answered about my Family!!

 

WHERE did I come from?

 

WHO were my forebears?

 

WHERE did my forebears live?  WHY did they relocate?

 

WHO are these people in the Family photos, drawings, paintings, and documents? 

YOUR LIFETIME AND YOUR PASSAGE

 

We all come here as newborn children of our parents, each a unique creation from God’s own hands, our births celebrated by Heavenly Angels and Earthly Family and Friends.

 

Our Passage through Time as ordinary mortals is painted with colors of love and hate, grief and joy, gain and loss, and more, with all the lessons of a Lifetime that affect one's choices on our Earthly and Moral Journey.

 

The unique Life Story of every individual is recorded in the people whose Lives one touches, in the memories of one that linger in others, and in the mark one leaves on the land and events.

 

But, I have to ask:

 

WHAT will your Life Story tell?

 

WHO follows to tell your Life Story?

 

HOW will your Life Story be shared (internet, ipad, iphone, DVD, blog, twitter, facebook, diary, television, movies, letters, documents, photos, mementoes, souvenirs, or ..)?

 

On the other hand, WILL your Life Story remain untold after death, and "The rest is silence".  {Hamlet, Act V, Scene 2, by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) an English poet and playwright}

So many times as one approaches Life's Final Chapter, a clearing-out of letters, documents, photos, and the like is performed.  This culling process is often painful for you or even for the person doing the process for a decedent.  It is often the case, that many Pages of one's Life Story are LOST.

 

When my maternal Cousin Emily Elizabeth Dickinson (1830-1896), an American poet born in Amherst, Massachusetts, passed away, so many of her prose, poetry, and letters were found and saved.  To this day, there are international societies, classes, tours, museums, facebook and web sites, books, and memorabilia of her Life and Time.

 

This LOSS, of a Family History or Story untold, unsaved, and silent, may not be apparent to the current generation(s), but can be felt keenly by the next generations that will ask the same questions that I myself ask.

                                  [Photos source: Google internet images]

IN CLOSING

 

That being said, consider NOW a GREAT TIME to 'turn over a new leaf this Autumn 2012.

 

Take a photo and add a caption (date, location, occasion, and people in photo).

 

Save a memento, letter, document, or whatever, and attach a description.

 

Fill in the pages of the Family Bible with births, marriages, deaths, and more.

 

For example, to record my Life's Story and my Family's Story, I use:  a digital camera, a scanner and printer, Google BLOG, www.Ancestry.com for family tree posting, www.findagrave.com for cemetery and final resting place posting, and I label and caption a lot.

 

Use your creativity and imagination to record your Life's Story and that of your Family.  DO it NOW!  Make a START!  Make a difference!

 

[Dorothy Hazel Tarr]

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