I tell you what, when I first started doing genealogy, I never thought I'd be one of those people.

you know, the ones who didn't record it all.

The ones who let a family quibble get in the way. who let facts get lost or ignored. see, I tried to solve some mysteries from long ago....who was Cleo & Hallie's birth father? who was great grandma Maggie's mother? her father? and here I am, not recording recent family events over a facebook spat.

I told myself I'd do an old fashioned write it down on paper version just for me, but haven't even done that. see, I have a bad habit of saving pics online and posting them on my blog. without permission. but they are already on facebook. anyhoo. a cousin's son asked me to remove a couple of his pictures. one was of his first baby's ultrasound. so, I did. and I deleted him from the family history. he has since married and had a daughter, as well. not recorded. I'm not even sure when these children were born, or exactly how to spell their names. or his wedding date. and does anyone even really care, if I, the once-upon-a-time-self-proclaimed-recorder-of-family-history doesn't give a shit? I remember when I first laid eyes on great aunt Dona's handwritten notebook from great Aunt Dollie for each family to record their own history in. she had listed her brothers and sisters, but acknowledged she wasn't sure how many children her brother had or how to even learn such information. WHAT? just because they disappeared off the face of the earth and there was no google? and you had a family and a life? WHAT? but, now. I. 100%. get. it. I have google and I just don't care. so there. this male family member is very good at posting on facebook when a family member dies. that's how I found out about Grandma Grace and Aunt Kay.

I just find it kind of funny how I went from no relative was too obscure or distantly related to research extensively...you wouldn't believe my collection on William Cullen Bryant, he was great great grandma Mary Alice Bryant Higdon McMican's great uncle. his writing was way over my head. I never understood it, but I collected it. I collected tidbits on inlaws of relatives, who weren't even related. step kids. 2nd and 3rd and 4th marriages with no children from my relation. previous marriages where they brought in children. I traced generations of step kids. I scoured newspapers and history books. now I just record my immediate family happenings. my kids. my grandkids. that is all that matters to me now. I have all this useless information in totes and totes and totes stacked in my basement for someone to eventually throw away.

update: April 3 2020. I have started a genealogy binder for stuff like this, but it'll probably be mushy rose colored glasses memories of my childhood and family stories I think I remember.