Last weekend I was supposed to visit Aunt Ginnie and all of her siblings; however, the trip was canceled. In fact, I doubt I'll be able to reschedule it. When I called Aunt Ginnie last week, I was shocked to find out that my Uncle Chet (her husband) had suffered a heart attack while he was shoveling snow and soon after underwent open heart surgery.
I am glad to hear that Uncle Chet is recuperating well, in fact, I'm almost chuckling to myself. Before you think I'm some horrible, sadistic person, let me explain. Chet and Ginnie have been married for over half a century, and even though I've only known them for half that time, nothing about them has ever changed. They've lived in the same house, with the same furniture, and with the same habits. One of these habits has always been to ignore their respective ages. So when my kids visit them, Aunt Ginnie, at age 83, can be found RUNNING during an hour long game of tag on the front lawn. Yes, running, not shuffling or speed walking--running! It comes as no surprise that Uncle Chet, at age 84, would spend his winter mornings shoveling away the heaps of lake effect snow that Chicago has been so kind to usher over to Michigan City this season.
Will everything change now? Will Ginnie and Chet finally slow down?
One thing is for certain, my project may have just changed. Without the final and most substantial interview, I may be left with only a few stories--not nearly enough. And a draft is due next week. Yeah, I'm not freaking out or anything...
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I think you bounced back pretty well during this "hiccup." Makes me really think about the nature of family history writing. Erin's pointed out that much of it is so time dependent (her great uncle died, I believe, before he could be interviewed) while other portions aren't time dependent at all.
ReplyDeleteCan you theorize this a bit for me? (Explain how it works). How does a researcher bounce back from such a large pothole in the development of the research? How is family history bigger than this? How can I, in future classes or in public lectures at ACPL in the future, explain the time dependent portions and how to come back after a set back?