Getting To Know Me, Getting To Know All About The Educated Genealogist

Terry Thornton over at Hill County issued this challenge well over a month ago. I have been trying to hold off until the last minute to submit my entry because I only started my blog a couple of months ago and wanted to try and write more posts.

I had intended to start this blog months ago. Frustration was getting the better of me. It was 1988 when I started my research. The last five years I totally immersed myself in a structured, formal education. Finally I am confident that I have the skills and knowledge to perform historical and genealogical research on a professional level. The only thing I am missing is a job. I feel like I am "all dressed up with no place to go!"

Then I became a genea-blogger. What better way to show the world who I am and what I can do. I tend to see the humorous side of things, sometimes at the wrong times. But life is way too short to be mad, angry, pout, be a gloomy Gustine.. well you know what I mean. For instance, at a DAR council meeting recently, right after we sang the Star Spangled Banner, something came over me and I said, "Play Ball!" I swear, I only whispered it to the lady next to me (who coughed up her mint). I meant no disrespect, just trying to get myself psyched for a full day of business meetings. Maybe this is why people do not even look at my research and case studies - if I am such a goof then it must reflect my work.

Well nothing can be further from the truth. I tackle every new person, place or thing head on. Every report or lineage application I have ever done gets the best I have to give. I hope that by reading my blog people come away knowing I am 100 percent committed to becoming the best genealogist and researcher. I have worked and studied very hard the last five years to become not just a genealogist, but to become a board certified genealogist and if I can quit blogging long enough, I will get my portfolio sent in by the end of this year.

So almost two months since I began and I have written 55 posts. "Whatever shall I choose?", she says in her very best Scarlet voice.

A. The Brightest - I was going to choose my Pauline/Helen series, but I am not finished, I am not satisfied with the ending, but until I can get to Boise, Idaho and Kansas City, Missouri it remains an open case. Instead I am choosing the very first posting I ever wrote in my entire life - "Sheri Went To Samford". If it weren't for that article, I wouldn't be here today.

B. The Breeziest - I am choosing "A Primer on Setting Goals and Reaching Them." I still laugh til it hurts when I think about the look on my son's face when he saw me on the ride in front of the grocery store.

C. The Most Beautiful - This one has to be my submission to the 4th Edition of I Smile for the Camera - Ace of Hearts. It's been over 20 years since my daddy died. There are times when I think of him that I can't remember what he looked like the last time I saw him. Writing about my father helps keep him alive for me.


"Getting to know me..." is only one song from my all time favorite musical "The King and I." I just adore Yul Brenner's pointy ears!

My favorite is entitled "Shall We Dance?" It's kind of the way I see the world, I'm always ready to give it a whirl!