I got together with my cousins on Sunday. It was me, my cousin Kathy, her brother Eric, and their mother Jean. Jean and her husband (my uncle) Lee fought with My mother over Grandma Kays inheritance back around 1966. As a result of that, my mother and her brother never spoke to one another again until they day they died. Lee died first, mom passed away in 1992, my father died in 1998.

Jean is just about to have her 88th birthday.

A few years ago I thought to myself that everybody but Jean, who had fought over that inheritance forty years ago, had died. There was no reason for THEIR battles and hatred and stubbornness to keep ME from meeting my cousins. So I got back in touch and we've been getting together every few months now, and I really like them.

We pulled out Grandma Kays trunk of momentos and spent the afternoon digging through great, great granduncle Reynolds commissions in the US Navy, his commendations from the Spanish-America War, his fathers pictures and high school diploma (Philadelphia, 1853) and I, for the very first time ever, saw pictures of my g-g-grandmother, and g-g-g-grandmother. Mixed in there were pictures of Kays children from the 1920's, 30's and so on. My grandfathers baby book, from 1897-1899 was in there. Get this, there was a copy of Samuel Crocket and Maria Roth's Marriage Certificate...date? ...1702.... I looked at Samuel portrait in my house all the years I was growing up, it's like I KNOW the man. Uncle Reynolds US Navy commissions were signed...and in those days they were actually SIGNED...by Presidents.. McKinley, Taft and Wilson. OK, President Wilson might not have signed the commissions as Rear Admiral, but McKinley signed the first commissions, I got out a magnifying glass and yup, that's his signature. I checked it online.

That's right, on Sunday I handled documents actually SIGNED by President McKinley.

These things are unbelievable treasures, and Jean answered dozens of questions during the afternoon...."who's this?" being the most usual one. *Very* interesting to me was that in a photo album of old pictures....and we're talking 1850's here, there were several pictures of a "Lindsay" family. Could it be possible that one of my earlier ancestors married Lindsays? Perhaps I have a vague, vague by-marriage connection to the Lindsays! YAY....just another excuse to wear their gorgeous tartan.

Do you have a relative like Jean in your family? Jean is getting on in years and has emphysema, but her mind is 100%, and she's a treasure. If you have a Jean I heartily recommend that you spent a pile of time with that person and ask questions, because they are a gold mine of memories, and when they're gone, they're GONE. Get out the pictures, dig up the old keepsakes, and ASK QUESTIONS.

Alan