Tuesday, January 18, 2011

The Sociality of Family History part 1 of 3

You'll have to allow me to wax sentimental here for a bit.

I've been traveling around Utah last fall with Sue Maxwell to re-vitalize and re-energize the UGA chapters around the state. We had a wonderful time in November with Christy Fillerup visiting with the ladies of our new Cedar City Chapter.

It was so beautiful to see the great support group they had formed in Cedar City. That is such an important part of genealogy. There are times that my non-genealogist friends think I'm crazy. But it is so good to have good friends who understand. To have a shoulder to cry on when you just cannot find that marriage record, and to have someone who will jump up and down with you when a distant cousin sends you pictures.

We had such a wonderful time talking with these sweet ladies. They took such good care of us. They are passionate about the same things we are. We learned alot from them and look forward to learning alot more. It was amazing how the common ground of family history could create such fast friends so quickly. I was amazed at how quickly we had soooo much to talk about.

Some may think that real life meetings are going by the wayside in this busy virtual digital world. And while it is great to have the convenience of virtual meetings and to make friends with social networking, I don't think they will ever replace the beauty of a support group where you can share your successes and frustrations with people who understand.

It is good to have someone who understands your passion.

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