Out of the Past: A Cousin Calls

Recently, I wrote about some of the family on my mother's side (she is capably and diligently working on that side of the family's genealogy) and my quest to secure a plot in the most beautiful cemetery in what I call my hometown.

I had located the three surviving granchildren of my 2nd great grandmother, Ida Marie "Mary" Olson Hansen, who had purchased six plots in the cemetery and used only five. In this journey to contact these surviving children to secure their permission, I've now met or remet them (one of them was my grandfather, who is 94, so that was an easy one). And, each has provided me with the documentation needed for me to take to the cemetery to transfer the plot.

Yesterday, I got a call from one of them who said he and his wife were coming through town and asked if they could stop by. I had 90 minutes notice and had a house to "touch up" - Midwesterners will know what I mean. That done, I poured over some notes I had made about questions I wanted to ask him. When they arrived (90 minutes late), we sat and visited and had a lovely time. He was full of information - which needs to be sorted through for accuracy. We might even be able to solve his mystery which is  the location of his estranged mother's burial. We have clues and ideas on how to solve this one. I hope to continue on with that work when I next see them (which means another 2 hour one-way trip!)

What was poignant to me was that this 80-year-old man had never seen his grandparents' graves. He asked me to take him there and in the process, he now knows where at least four of his aunts and uncles were buried, his grandparents, and a favorite cousin. He's a real tough guy - very masculine and very self-assured, but his trip down memory lane seemed to actually move him in a way I suspect he hadn't planned.

Connecting with those who came before can be humbling as we cycle through our lives. Maybe that's what I like about it. That the circle of life keeps reminding me of how far we've come in an endless family journey as each of us takes our own leg of the journey.