Fond Memories

Both Lauren and I were saddened that we were unable to attend the memorial service for Grandpa Haws recently. The sharing of stories and great memories is such a wonderful practice. In the spirit of that…

I believe everyone at one point or another wonders about their ancestry. What kind of people were they, what does the family tree look like, what citizenship have my ancestors held? Around the age of twelve I became keenly interested.

In a quest to discover my racial, national, and ethnic background, I began to ask family members. I received some pretty clear answers from the maternal side but my dad was fairly clueless. He suggested I shoot Grandpa an email and ask him.

Easy enough…being fairly certain of the vocabulary I wanted to use and how to phrase the questions, I sent an email anxiously awaiting reply (my true identity couldn’t wait!).

The next day my dad beckoned to me for a chat. My Grandpa, the loving man he was, wasn’t sure how to respond to my email, so he contacted my dad instead.

The following is a loosely interpreted message from my Grandpa to my Dad:

“Christopher sent me an email yesterday, saying you told him to contact me. I’m not really sure how to answer him. He said he was doing some research regarding whom he was and where he came from. I think you should have a chat with him. He asked what gender I was in order to determine his.”

I may not ever escape the teasing because of a simple word mix-up (Gender vs. Genealogy), but I will never forget the joy it brings to everybody else. Thanks for the laughs Grandpa, your reaction was priceless.