In the very, very beginning, she was not sure how to do this. She was not sure she could figure it all out. Even starting perplexed her. Where to start? How to start? What questions were there that needed answers?
In the very, very beginning, she had little clues to carry her. Just a few names needed to be checked out. Where would they lead her, those names? How would she figure out how to organize all that data about those names? Who were those names to her?
In the very, very beginning, she researched guidelines. She searched for others who had gone before her and conquered the steps and the organization. She studied their examples. She Goggled names and places while she gathered life stories. She made folders and files. How was she to create a structure to put this all together? Who could really help her? What lessons needed learning?
In the very, very beginning, she jumped in with both feet…an observation by her husband Daniel. She spent evenings, weekends, vacations looking for complete strangers who had blood connections to her. She devoted herself to this journey, this adventure, this birth… the birth of a new genealogist, the evolution of constructing a family tree, the advent of a lifetime of searching.
In the very, very beginning, it was I who did this. It was I who jumped in with both feet. It was I who became a genealogist. And so I remain these 20 years later.
Once Upon A Lifetime: Tales And Vignettes Of My Ancestors 