For many years Tracy’s Fitzsimmons family had an annual family reunion. Several folks from the different lines attended regularly. So when Grandma Fitzsimmons passed away, Tracy didn’t want to lose the special times and connections. She decided to manage the reunion. She took care of just about everything from the location to the invitations, the setup, and the cleanup. She always made sure to invite everyone to bring news of new additions to the family as well as information about those they knew from before. That way a lot of people were able to contribute to building of the family tree. When anyone has questions about birthdates or where someone was from or lived, they know who to ask. When someone passes away, often their family treasures such as photos, books of remembrance, etc. come to her. The family knows who takes care of these things.
There is so much we can learn from our relatives. And we can grow closer to them.
Our family means so much to us in so many ways. It is important to me to ask questions of those who were here before I was. Some people like to talk about themselves. A lot of us like to remember our past and talk about it with others.
Invite your relatives to take a stroll with you down Memory Lane.
It is often an amazing thing to walk down Memory Lane with our grandparents or parents, great aunts or uncles, etc. In fact, as I grow older and our kids have families of their own, it is fascinating to listen to our sons talk about what and how they remember things from their childhoods. What they loved. What they miss. And what they thought about this event or that. As we are afforded the time, seek to have these conversations, ask the open-ended questions, and listen, we can learn so much about what is important to our relatives, about their aspirations, achievements, failures, and heartaches. We learn how they lived. We learn how their parents and grandparents lived sometimes, too. From the things they tell us we might learn how to live better, or how to approach some concerns in our lives as we encounter them for ourselves. But we also get to pass them to our own children, grandchildren, cousins near and distant, friends, and others whose lives we are blessed to be a part of.
If you would like to enjoy this type of kinship, camaraderie, and reverence with your relatives, please make the time. Ask the questions. Listen, learn, and gain a deeper understanding of the ones you love.
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If don't have the time or do not know what questions to ask, we would love to help. Just let us know.
