Geography and Geneology

The Gentle Slopes

 This weeks edition is brought to you by the letter "W"

as in

What?

When?

Where?

&

Why?

What this had to do with 3 kids on a school step I still don't know. After years of listening to family stories the one thing I have learned is, just ride the wave. What you might notice listening to this weeks tale is that it is a little on the choppy side. There was hours of editing involved, but on the bright side, I also have 7 other stories that I gleamed from this one.

One of Seventeen?!!!

When you spend enough time listening to your elders you begin to pick up on their moods through the stories they tell. In this instance, deeply sentimental was the vibe. Recalling family with an inkling of longing in her eyes, pausing frequently to remember the faces and familiar surroundings that have long gone by. I had once believed that memories and images that are so clear to me now would dim with time or be lost in the hurried race that is our lives. It is reassuring, in a sense, to know just how vibrant and accessible those recollections can be later in life.

Nana's interpretation of Beefhide KY

Where did you say you were from?! It was truly enlightening to watch Nana remember her childhood abode and be able to draw it in fairly accurate detail. As I was listening to her recall her home and simultaneously draw it on a scrap piece of paper, I thought to my self "That can't be right, I'm sure that's just how she remembers it". Well color me dead wrong! I Google Mapped Beefhide KY guess what folks, she hit the nail on the head. 

                                   

"That's right Susan there is a Beefhide Kentucky." 

For those of you not up on your classic cinema one liners that is a take from Miracle On 34th Street.

Great Great Grandpa Isaac

Great Great Uncle Booker

Why would I want to know about these places and people? Well for starters they are apart of who I am. Oh yes, I went there. Really folks, These people played a part in shaping who Nana is and she played a major role in shaping who I am. As are all the people who filter through our lives. 

Not to mention that if you listen carefully you pick up on the subtle drama behind the careworn memory. I had to rewind a couple times but I believe Nana referred to her grandmother as a bit of a floozy. Just who was Great Great Uncle Booker's daddy?

Well I have to tell you as endearing as it was to listen to Nana recall many of her relatives by name I was still slightly (or not so slightly) apprehensive that all these people were bona fide family. Thanks to my baby sister and modern technology I was able to verify that not only was her internal compass right on, so was her lineage.

Click Here to find out for yourself just how right Nana was,
then dig into your own ancestry by asking those around you where they are from.
(P.S. I know it says 28minutes but really it is more like 8min)