Not All Who Wander Are Lost

I have an itch. A bug. An unrelenting desire to travel.

It's grown stronger this year. I lost my short lived photography job in January and ever since then it's been poking at me. Like a kid poking something on the beach with a stick.

My dream place to go would be the UK. Some of my ancestry roots are there. Plus Harry Potter and other literary roots. And the accent. And men in kilts.

Genealogically speaking... Poland is where I should go. Krakow and Tarnow.

So far this year I've done a few trips to Orlando. Big whoop that's 4 hours. I've gone to Sarasota and Key West. A big trip is coming up tomorrow. This time tomorrow I'll be in New Orleans. Awesome sauce. But it's still not enough.

I keep checking travel sites and tour groups to Europe.

And I finally decided... I'm going.

Not just for me. Because if it was just for me, I'd go to one of the places I listed above. No no.

You see, my mom is turning 50 this year. Big year. She hasn't exactly squashed travel plans... but she puts everything logically. Like... you should save money. You have plenty of time for that later. Be responsible.

She's good like that.

I've come to realize something though. You gotta get out there and do stuff. If you keep putting it off and waiting and waiting... before you know it your chance will be over and you won't be able to do things you want. You won't be able to live. Really live.

So I'm taking her to Italy.

She wants to go. Just... not right now. In a few years when we save up. Eventually.

She gets worried about money and stuff. And I know she'll yell at me when she finds out. but I'm not alone.

My dad and my grandparent's are helping. and I have a fundraising site.

She deserves it.



                                         

Cemetery Clean Up

Happy New Year!

This past September my dad and I cleaned up a cemetery. Just the two of us. It was wonderful. We have plenty left to do of course, but seeing as the cemetery is far from where I live... 1200 miles give or take...  I won't be able to get there for a little while.

If anyone gets the opportunity to do so, clean up a cemetery. The dead will thank you.

Here are some before and after pics. There are some on findagrave that predate even my photos. Go take a look.

July 2013

Sept 2013

yes that's the same stone

Before

After. Look at all of that back there!!

There's actually a stone barely sticking out to the right of this one

We found about six stones we didn't see on our first trip.

See anything? There's a tombstone in there.

Next time I would like to uncover the stones. Get rid of more branches and debris. Heck if I could dig up bodies to do an anthropological analysis on them I would. ... ... ... That wouldn't be illegal would it?

Vanderslice Cemetery

When I saw my dad's mom again (aka "new" grandma)  she mentioned a bunch of cemeteries that people in our family was buried in. The next day we hit a bunch of them. And I mean a bunch. The first we went to was Vanderslice Cemetery in Columbia County.

I didn't know who was buried there. I didn't know where it was. My dad didn't' know either... and he was driving. We eventually found it. Another hidden one like the Presbyterian Chapel Cemetery from a few years ago. At least this one had a big sign.

Now if you look at the picture on Findagrave.com... it looks a lot nicer in the 2004 photo. Sad really. I'd like to go back and clean it up.

We didn't find too many people in there actually... and none with surnames I was familiar with... but of course I looked up the cemetery online later.

There are quite a few Melick's in this cemetery surprisingly. We only saw maybe 10 graves. I don't know if it's just that overgrown or what.

Hallman

After the Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery we headed to the house that supposedly belonged to Anthony Hallman.

Between Ancestry.com and Google maps I had a pretty good idea where it was located. Some of the roads listed on the map couldn't be traveled on or were private but we found it anyway.

Records on Ancestry basically gave this info:

-Skippack, adjacent to Mennonite Church
- Estate passed to daughter Dorothea Hallman Heizer... may not be correct...
-Owned a farm of 150 acres
- One part stated son Henry was left land in Skippack " I also give and Devise unto my said Son Henry Hallman all my Land Plantation with the Appurtenances and--Improvements thereunto belonging or otherwise Appertaining thereto, Situate Lying and being in the township of Skepack and Perquiomy aforesaid containing as by Estimation about one Hundred and fifty Acres, be it more or less"
-It's at the crossroads of Kratz and Evansburg



It turns out the farm attached to the house is a stable that offers riding lessons. It's called Three Diamond Stables. We tried to ask about the owner's, but there were only two men there that spoke little English. We were able to understand that the owners were away on vacation. We tried again on our way back to the Philly airport. No luck. But there's a website for the Three Diamond Stables. And there's a greenhouse next to the house called Marie's Garden, and that also has a website. So before my next visit to Pa, I'm going to try and contact them. 

Also on the way back from the airport, we found the Old Trappe Lutheran Church. The one that Anthony helped build.

Lower Skippack Mennonite Cemetery

After flying into Philly, my mom and I hung out with my dad and his sister. It was my first time meeting her. She's pretty cool. Together they're hilarious. When we left his sister's house, we took a slight detour from our journey and stopped at a cemetery. What is a vacation with no cemeteries?

So my great great great........ ok 9th great grandfather and his wife were buried in this cemetery. I googled and ancestried and findagraved the crap out of it. Not only was he buried in that cemetery, but a few miles away this guy's house and barn were still standing. Crazy right?? So needless to say we went to visit him. Unfortunately, there was no one home at the house, but there were plenty in the cemetery.

So my line goes like this...

there's me, my dad, and his mom.

Then...

Ellis H.Turner--Harry V. Turner--Hiram Turner-- George W. Turner-- Susanna Cressman-- John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmit Cressman-- Anthony Cressman-- Anna C Hallman-- Anthony Hallman/Heilman

So it was Mr. Anthony Hallman and his wife Marie Salome that I came looking for first. He lived between 1671 and 1759, she between 1673 and 1745.

As before, I took a million pictures of the cemetery and the stones there. But to save time I won't put that many up.

Anthony's is on the left side in the back. It was pretty easy to find since it's a newer stone.

There is a piece of his wife's stone in the back of his stone.

Has a lot of fun that day. Hotter than hell, but had fun. We passed the same area on Monday before we flew home again. Saw the church he helped build. It's still standing today. pretty amazing.

Well folks, more pictures to come lately!

The Snyders

My dad's surname is Snyder. I'll talk a little bit about his father's side.

Donald Snyder (my grandpa that I never met) was in the Korean War, worked in a Penitentiary, and died of cancer.

His parent's were Harvey Snyder (1902-1956) and Mary Reed (1906-1984).

Harvey's parents: Harry M. Snyder (1889-1959) and Sadie Welker (1879-1957).

Harry's parents: Tyrus Snyder (1839?) and Sarah Speck (1840?).

That's the part that get's kind of iffy on Ancestry. I'm not too confident on the hints I have for Tyrus and Sarah. I know they're in my tree though because my aunt and grandma worked on the family tree chart.


Sadie Welker's parents: Henry J Welker(1856) and Lucetta Bordner (1858).

Henry Welker's parents: Henry Welker (1830) and Mary Snodgrass (1825).


Mary Reed's parents: Charles F. Reed (1875) and Leah Catherine Hain (1883)

Charles Reed's father: John L Reed. His parents were Levi Reed annd Mary Auchmuty. I'd love to learn more about her. She's from Glasgow.

Leah's parents were John Samuel Hain and Leah Catherine Snyder.

From what I've been told there are some Hain/Haines that were in the civil war. I haven't found which ones though.

Long Time No Blog

Wow I really fail at this lately... hah!

Some updates... I've been to about a bagillion cemeteries and just returned from vacation on Monday. Met my aunt, hung out with my dad and new grandma, and met some kind of cousin... that part was fun. He and his wife were looking at me like ummm why did we not know about you before. But they didn't say anything.

I don't think I've mentioned surnames from my dad's side of the family yet. Maybe I did. I don't know. Those are the cemeteries I visited.

Also... 23andme. Awesome. I took a test, my dad took a test, and my mom's results should be in any day now.

I'm going to try and be motivated to write more... try being the key word.

Oh and WDYTYA is back on! and I'm still the drinking game MC on the twitter!

not that anyone told me I was but hey.

What else what else... That's all I can think of for now. Next up... surnames and cemeteries!

Holiday Recap

We took down our Christmas decorations today. It looks pretty depressing around here. I thought I'd write about the happier things from the past week.

So my dad was here for a week and it was beyond awesome. It was awkward at first but that didn't last long. We went to parks and restaurants.Or just stayed home and relaxed. In the evenings we just sat on the couch. No tv or anything. It was lovely.

One evening we went to the beach to watch the sunset. He and I walked one way, my mom walked another. Our alone time I guess. I mostly listened to what he had to say. I know it was hard for him. I didn't really have questions for him. He basically said that he doesn't have a good reason for not being there. I accept that. I know he wasn't ready for my awesomeness back then. I'm ok with that now. I have my moments of course but I do understand. I'm just glad that he's involved now. Can't live in the past. I found a shell while we were walking. I decided to give it to him the night before he left.

We were like a normal family for a week. Like my mom would be cooking, he washed dishes, and I dried. It was... normal. Hung out on the couch. Parents held hands. Normal. It was so normal that it was weird. Because it shouldn't be normal.

Christmas was lovely of course. We didn't get started until 7:30... later than I would've liked but thats ok. All of the gifts were wonderful. I'll break it down to the most... meaningful ones.
So my mom and I decided a while ago to make a photo album for my dad. Pictures of me from when I was a baby until now. It went over very well I must say. He looked through it at least four times that day. And I know he's shared it with his mom and sister.

Later he and I were talking and I mentioned that his album didn't include the rejects. The blurry, unfocused, and down right bad pictures. He said he still wanted to see them. So he and I sat up in the guest room looking through photo albums. I might have to end up making more copies of photos to send to him.

Now for my mom, she was just completely gone when she opened her gift. Here's the back story. She used to collect music boxes about 24 years ago. When they were together he got her a music box with a carousel horse in a snow globe. Since then most of her music boxes smashed, but that one might be packed away at my Busia's house. Flash forward. She didn't even get the box completely open and she lost it. It was a music box. Carousel horse inside a snow globe. He remembered. It was the sweetest thing ever!

My turn! Ok so everything else was opened and he gave me another Christmas card. A sappy one this time. I sat on the couch conveniently next to a stocking. I finish reading the card and he says "oh I think you forgot something in your stocking". I'm thinking oh boy here we go. So I reach in and its a small box. Once again I'm thinking oh boy here we go again, its another small box. So I mentally prepare myself. He bought me earrings. I found out there's a story to this as well. The first Christmas my parent's spent together he gave my mom a pair of earrings. First Christmas I spend with him? I get earrings. Just makes it even more special I guess.

His last day was Wednesday. He and I spent the day together. That evening was the most emotional of all. The three of us were all just snuggled on the couch for a few hours. He called me his baby girl. Then he called my mom his Baby Mamma. (It's been a joke for a little while) It was bittersweet.

He says he will be back as soon as he can. I don't doubt that. I can't wait to see him again.

All good things...

Well, my dad left yesterday. It sucks but I know he will be back as soon as he can.

I don't have much time this morning but I did want to post these two things.

This has been the best Christmas ever!!

Merry Christmas!

I'm sitting here in my room trying to be very very quiet. I'm being nice and letting my parents sleep a little bit.

I already know this will be the best Christmas ever. Just with my dad being here. I can't wait to give him his presents. One in particular. I can't wait to give mom her presents. And the ginormous 26lb box has just been screaming "open me!" For like three weeks. He's excited for us to open our stuff and I know he's a very good gift giver. So. Woo! But even without those presents the past few days have been amazing.

We might end up going to the beach today. Just to rub it in to everyone up north. Haha. We actually stopped the other day after dinner. Watched the sunset. It was very nice and quiet and peaceful. We found a sand Christmas tree with shell decorations and presents of horseshoe crabs.

My mom is the happiest I've seen her in a long time. I caught them holding hands a few times. Well, I can't really say caught. It's not like they were trying to hide it. It was sweet. Kind of weird because I'm not used to that. But it seemed normal like they haven't been apart for over 23 years.

I'm not going to jinx anything there. Anyone who has been following this saga knows it's like a hallmark movie. Hallmark movies always have a good ending.

Well, I made it to 5:30am. I think I'll start to get ready for the day... Very quietly... And impatiently wait for my parents to wake up.

Surprise!

He's here!! My dad flew in for Christmas! They kept it a surprise!... For the most part. I figured it out before he got here though. Haha.

How could I figure it out you ask? Everyone at work did such a good job keeping it a secret. Well here's a few of the clues I picked up on.

-roast thawing in the fridge. Ok 2 ppl can't eat all of that, plus we specifically bought that to make spicy pulled pork when he did come down (think that happened tues...)
- extra soda in the fridge. Even if we have a get together Saturday that doesn't mean we have the fridge filled Thursday or earlier with 12 cans...
-mom was all perky and peppy before her second cup of coffee.
- dressed in a cute jean skirt and asked me how her hair looked. Asked her where she was goin all fancy. "To pick up a man"
- then of course the FaceTime thing. When he first suggested that I was like ok cool... But what about the wifi? He didn't have wifi.

Of course the biggest hint was me stalking his Facebook and seeing that his friend told him to have a good trip down south. Heh.

I was very good pretending that I knew nothing. Until I got home. By then I was just smiling too much and couldn't hide that.

But I am just so excited. (In fact I thought of doing the Kristin wiig surprise skit when I walked in the door...)


But just think. This is the first Christmas I get so spend with my dad. AHH!

His mom opened her presents from us last night I guess. She liked my Xmas balls. No doubt in my mind she would like them but its still nice to hear that confirmation.

Well that's it for now. More to come I'm sure!!

Handmade Christmas Gifts

I don't recall if I talked about my Christmas ornaments last year. I originally got the idea through one of my twitter peeps Caroline, aka @familystories. She's awesome with the genealogy crafty stuff. Here is the link to her tutorial.

I decided I wanted to try to make some. Just for my grandparents at first. I found old photos of their parents. I made them two each, one photo on each Christmas ball.

Mildred & Lewis Bieda

Then I decided to make one for my aunt and Uncle.
Last year my friend and coworker got married and I picked her name for secret santa. Actually, today is her anniversary. I had so much fun making the ornaments for my family, I figured I'd do the same for her.

The gifts went over so well that I decided I would make more for my grandparents. And when I found out my cousin was getting married, I made up my mind to make some for her.

I look just adorable in my blue dress...

Can you tell the pics were taken at the same time?

I had a reason for choosing these particular pictures. The whole meeting my dad and other grandma thing. I didn't want them to feel left out or that I was abandoning them for a new family. I dunno if that makes sense but hey.

For my cousin and her hubby...

I made them two balls, two pictures on each. One with the first dance pictures, and one with pictures outside the church.

Decided to make one for my uncle too. One ball, four pictures.

 I also made ornaments for someone else. But because its not Christmas yet, they haven't seen them and I can't post those pictures. ;)

Ok well I can post this one...

The blue one is actually pictured above. The one with my Busia and I.

Hobbitses

Well I'm just sitting here waiting for the hobbit to start. I have an hour to go and no one is here. Ok I think there's 2 other people in the theater. Whatever. I'm excited. I'm going to be exhausted tomorrow but I don't care.

- I'm feeling better since my last post. That same day actually. I was just moody I think. But I had to get it out there anyway.

-I've been slowly working on my tree. I had to delete a large branch. Which sucked. The people are still in my ancestry.com tree somehow and I still get hints on them. It shows me there's no relationship path. Yet I still get hints. Mmm Kay. But anyway idk if I wrote about those people. They're on my dads side. I just kinda went with the hints I was getting. That's how they ended up there. It was before I met my grandma so now I know the real ppl I had to put in there.

- I'll talk about those people eventually I guess. We'll see.

- oh did I mention my dad and I are going to FaceTime Xmas morning? I think I did. That will be fun. I can't wait!

-I'm just rambling now. I only wasted 7 minutes. A few more people trickled in. Think we have a total of  7 people in here now lol.

Anger

*note* Part of this post might be fueled by female hormonal stuff that involved hatred of all men.

I've said before that I'm not angry at my dad for not being there. Mostly I'm not. But deep down there's this little person inside that likes to remind me of the little things that I usually do not dwell on. She is a angry and jealous little person. And she's itching to get out this morning. I don't know if writing will help me feel better or if it will make my day worse. Its rather early and I should be getting ready for work.

When I was younger I had some feelings of anger towards him. Rightly so. Towards the end of the year there was usually a school project that involved Father's day. I had to do the stupid little craft. Had no one to give it to. Kids occasionally asked and I had to explain I don't have a dad. They would say well you have to have one and I would say well I don't. Then all of the kids had both parents at their sports games. I had my mom and grandparents. And that was fine. But he should've been there..

He should've been at my art shows. My graduations. Sports games. Should've been there while I was getting ready for Homecoming and Prom. He should've been there when I was sick. Should've been there on birthdays and Christmases. He should've been there. He should've had to deal with little kid temper tantrums and teenage drama. He should've been there when I was growing up. He wasn't. I didn't have the chance to be the cliche "daddy's girl".

I know he regrets not being there. As he should. I was fine with that.

Last night I was... not facebook stalking... How about we call it research. Yes. Research. I was just going through some of his pictures and saw him and a woman standing outside of a baseball... whats it called... stadium? (See I would have all this technical crap down if he was there to teach it to me) Anyway I looked at it and just instantly felt... probably closer to annoyance and jealousy than anger. I mean, why is he there with that woman? I dunno who she is. Could be a friend. Cousin. Girlfriend. Whatever. My thought is why is he there with her. It should be my mom and I. He should've taken ME to games. I don't like sports that much  but if he was around I might.

When we met for the first time and we were talking he mentioned (briefly) about going to some game of his (ex) girlfriend's kid. Ok so he dated someone with a kid... but didn't want to deal with me? I felt that stab immediately but hid it. I doubt he realizes that stuck with me.

The other day I was in Hallmark looking for Christmas cards. I got one for mom and grandparents... Then I looked at the "dad" and "grandma" section. I couldn't find anything that worked for me. They all said something to the effect "you've always been there for me" "wonderful dad" "when I was little". None of the cards applied to my situation. I had to get generalized cards for these people because they were never there until now.

I have similar feelings, perhaps on a smaller scale, towards his parents. His father is gone but his mother isn't. I had one set of grandparents. I should've had two.

I am thrilled that we're building a relationship after all of these years. Excited that we're going to FaceTime on Christmas morning.That he has plane tickets and he and my mom won't tell me so it will be a surprise. But I can't help feeling like this. It's normal I guess. I haven't talked to anyone who has been in a similar situation.

Clearly I have to figure out all of these feelings. That's just a taste of what I'm dealing with and thinking about this morning. I know I'll have to deal with it eventually. Both of us will. I also know nothing will change the past. You can't go back. What good would it even be to bring all of this up?

This is where I'm stopping for today. Must get ready for work. I know this isn't very organized but it's how my mind is flowing at the moment.

Until next time.

The rest of the story... for now

I've been neglecting my blogging duties. I apologize. I've been busy and distracted and yadda yadda...

So where did I leave off? oh yes the necklace. That was a Friday.

The next day I was feeling very blah. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to see my dad again before we left on Sunday. The original plan for that day was for me to go out with my mom, uncle, and little cousin. I was going to take fall pictures with pumpkins and all that kind of stuff. After that there would be a festival, a restaurant, and a Halloween fest with my best friend. Well, the first didn't happen, and I was even more bummed out. Having free time and doing nothing, but knowing that later on would be busy and I couldn't spend more time with my dad.

Later on I got to thinking. I decided to ask my bff if she would mind if I asked him to come with us at the Halloween thing at Knoebels. Of course she had no problem with it. After all, I've kept her up to date on everything. From the minute I found out about him she was googling stuff just like I was. She's the one that called me after midnight to say she found him on facebook.

So I sent him a text and in less than two minutes he replied saying yes. We met up around 8:30 and went on a few rides. It was weird but normal I guess. I mean, most kids take it for granted when they're at a park riding rides with their dad. Me? I was thinking huh... this is different... this is new... It was fun though. And cold. Not used to the whole... cold weather thing.

The park closed around 10, and with the lines and everything we only managed three rides. So we were standing around awkwardly and he said sooo what are you doing after this? (did I mention he said that the other two times we met up?) we had no plans so we decided to go to a bar. Just talked about random things. He said he wished he could see us off at the airport which was just... I dunno what word to use. lol. it meant a lot. When we got ready to leave he gave me a big hug. I got into the car with my friend and she drove back to my grandparents house.

Now I was ready to cry anyway. I was barely holding it together. I got out of my friends car and wasn't even to the door when my phone went "bing!" and it was a text. I read the text and just... lost it. It was very sweet. Actually an understatement. lol. That message (and the others that followed) just meant so much. He said he loved me. I don't know if I wasn't expecting that, or if it was all the emotions or what but... it was an amazing feeling. I can't even describe it. Anyway, I walked into the guest room and my mom saw me and I couldn't even talk I just shoved the phone at her. I cried, and she cried. Lots of female emotions going on lol.

Next day we were getting ready to leave. Emotional again. Between me crying and her crying and trying to hide it from my grandparents... sheesh.

Gonna try to speed up the story. lol. I told my Busia about this whole thing the day after we got back. Surprisingly she was happy about all of it. I dunno why I was so freaked out. She told my grandpa and I guess he's cool with it too. And apparently my Busia told all of Elysburg. Or a few people. and you all know about gossip in a small town. After I told her I told my aunt and had her crying. Everyone we told this story to has cried and compared it to a hallmark or lifetime movie. People at work couldn't wait to hear how everything went.

My dad and I are still talking on twitter and facebook (he requested us!), and text. He has tickets to come down to visit, but I'm not allowed to know when. He and mom are conspiring. Isn't that weird? It's like what normal parents do. Plan a surprise for their kid.

I don't know how everything is going to work out but it has been amazing so far. I'm working on some projects right now. Some super sneaky Christmas gifts. Homemade of course, some similar to last years. I'll post pictures later. Can't give anything away yet.

Ok peeps, that's it for now. I'll try to post again later this week.

Two years!

Holy cow! So much has happened in the past year! Some really really good things. Just to list a few...

- Wall Street Journal Article
- Free Geni stuff

-... What was that other thing... Oh yes. Learning about my dad, being able to plug whole other side of my tree and see it light up with hints. Most importantly meet and spend time with my dad. Everything is changing for the better. I'm sure of it.

- So what is next for the year ahead? No flipping clue. Hah! Obviously I'd like to explore more of my dad's side. I've learned a lot so far and I will do a few posts on that soon enough. I'll keep looking for any new or interesting info on my mom's side of course. As you all know genealogy never ends. It's just that I have so much to find out about the other ancestors.

- Next year I hope to visit more cemeteries. I only went to one this year. I'd like to find out more about my ancestry.com DNA results. Find some more cousins. Get someone to comment on my blog.

- Who knows what will happen in the next year. But I am almost certain it will be good. I can't imagine it otherwise. Until next time peeps!

The Necklace

Oh man... so much has happened in the past week. Just amazing. So where did I leave off? oh yes, we agreed to meet up with my dad on Friday night for dinner.

We sat down and we talked and ate and laughed. Very fun. After we left the restaurant we headed over to see his mom. I think she felt a little... whats the word... She seemed to be guarded with her emotions? She was very very nice but I'm sure she had to feel awkward and nervous. But she still gave me a hug. We talked a little bit and then moved into the dining room... she had six photo albums on the table. SIX! She was prepared show to the granddaughter she had yet to meet six photo albums. That is just amazing right there. And more proof that this woman interested in genealogy is related to me. I took photos of photos and notes. There was something else that was cool. Apparently my aunt made a family tree poster in college. Helloooo gold mine! Notes can get a little confusing so to have a visual tree... Just amazing. And I asked if I could take a picture of him and his mom. They agreed. I was to nervous/awkward to ask to be in a picture with either/both of them. Next time.

We didn't leave until around 11:30 at night. She hugged me again and stayed inside while the three of us went outside. We talked for a little bit. He asked what we were doing the rest of the weekend and I said we weren't sure... we were leaving Sunday morning and still weren't telling my grandparents at that point. But I said I'd let him know.

Then he said I have to get something out of the truck. I said ok and kept talking to mom. He came back with a box and said I'd like to give you something. I opened it and inside was this beautiful necklace. Two intertwined tear drop shapes, one silver and one gold. With a diamond in the middle. Gorgeous. He gave me a really big hug that lasted a long time. I could tell he was getting emotional. Then mom and I got into the car and started to drive away. He watched us leave.

Up until that point I had held it together pretty well. But five minutes after we left I started to lose it. Everything had been so overwhelming but up until he gave me the necklace it seemed like I could deal with it.  Besides, at that point I didn't know if I'd be able to see him again before we had to leave to go home. I do have an update or two left in the story. Not that it's close to ending. It's just getting started.

After showing people my necklace at work, I heard a few of them call it a father-daughter necklace. I didn't know there was such a thing... but if that is what it's really called it just makes it even more special. It means he put a lot of thought into it. Which apparently is nothing new.

That's all for now! More updates to come and my second bloggerversary is coming up. No idea if that's spelled right. But hey, I'm using Blogger so... Anyway... later peeps!

And it keeps getting better

Yesterday I got a message from bio dad about the next meet up on Friday. We decided to meet up at a fancier restaurant... Well according to my mom it's fancy. I've never been there. But any way we're meeting up around 7pm. So I was like ok sounds good.

- and of course that's not all. It gets better.

- the next thing he said was "would you be ok meeting my mom" .... Lets just say I was in a restaurant when I got that message and I had to control myself. He wants me to meet his mom. Holy cow. My reply back did include multiple exclamation points. Lol. So we're going to dinner and then going to see his mom.

- I still haven't told my grandparents yet. I'm becoming more convinced that they won't take it well... But I'll tell them. Eventually.

- ok that's it for now! More updates to come :)

So much excitement!

Greetings from Pennsylvania! I've been very busy the past few days. My cousin was married this past weekend. Very beautiful bride and of course I already added some of the groom's family to the tree. I'll do an updated post on that later.

- The biggest news of course is about yesterday. Yesterday was the first meeting with my bio dad and it went pretty well. I brought my mom with me to the restaurant around 9am. My stomach was in knots but her being there made it better. I think. I just imagine it being worse if she wasn't there lol. So he comes in and gives me a hug and then my mom a hug and we sat down and talked and ate. I mostly sat there folding and refolding my napkin. I was a little nervous. Lol. My mind was pretty much blank but my mom kept the conversation going and I chimed in a bit. We talked about work and music and hobbies and some family stuff. He's very nice and funny. We were cracking up. We brought some pictures along since he didn't have any. One was prom, another middle of college and the other was a college graduation pic.  He was smiling the whole time he was looking at them. So that's good.

- he did say he told his sis he's been talking to me. Yay! Still no go with his mom though but I get that. I would like to meet her before we leave but hey I'm not gonna push anything. That could still happen. Fingers crossed lol. He asked if I/we would like to see him again before we left. My brain was like wooo! But my mouth was like yeah sure. Lol. Then... This is pretty cool... Then he asked what we were doing the rest of the day. I was like oh going to a cemetery to visit a friend. I didn't say it was to find part of his family that was there. I didn't know if that would fall under creepy research or not... But anyway he was like oh my grandparents and an aunt and uncle are buried there if you want I can show you where. Um. Guided cemetery tour? Hells yes! I didn't say that. I was more like
yeah that would be cool.

- so we followed him to the cemetery... By this time we were at the restaurant for at least three hours. They had the lunch buffet thing out for a while... We get there and kinda all split up. Then he found the... Care taker guy? Apparently he had a list and even without the list knew where everyone as buried. So he came back to me and showed me where everyone was. I was my crazy picture taking
self lol. Then the care taker was like is there anyone else? And I said my friends name and he's like oh she's over there. I'll meet you at the bottom of the hill I'm like ok. So we finish up there and walk 
down. We found my friend and I guess the fresh cut grass triggered allergies or something bc my nose was running and eyes watering and such.

- after that we got ready to leave. Talked a bit more. Said we'd figure out when to meet and stuff. Hugged goodbye and everything. By then it was 1:30 or so... So about 4.5 hours. Pretty good start I think.

-Some other stuff that came up in the convo: he wasn't that surprised I guess that I contacted him. Then mom joked he prob. Didn't have a choice in meeting me cuz I woulda found him. Which... Yeah that's true. And he laughed. And I was like hey... It's not stalking it's Internet research. And he's like yeah it's not stalking unless you break into the persons house.

-another thing... It was an awkward silence moment and mom asked what he was thinking and he was
like well where do we go from here. And it was kind of like a... What ever you want whatever she (me) want kind of thing. So he's open to whatever. And obv. If he wants to meet up again...

- after we left mom was... What was she. Like dear lord how are we gonna fit this in what should we
do when should we do it over and over. And so was I. I think mine was more an excited ing and hers was anxiety. I dunno.

- last night I got a very nice message on "The Twitter" and he's looking forward to seeing me again. Also found out he was nervous... Which I figured he would be but I'm glad he said it lol. So we
agreed on Friday for the next meet up and that he would work on the details. Oh. Also asked if he 
was ok with my mom being there. And he was. So yay!

So that's all for now I think. I'm sure I'll have another post for you by Friday! Later peeps!

Countdown and preparation!

Nine days! That's it. Only nine days until the flight leaves for Pennsylvania. I'm half packed of course. And since I'm going back home....I think I'll always call it home... I have to have a genealogy game plan right? And I do. For the most part.

- I'm gonna meet bio dad. That will be a nice chunk of genealogy right there. I dunno if I'll meet his mom. I'd like too. I've decided that. Plus she's the genealogy type person too and I could learn a lot of family stuff from her.

-last year I went to a bunch of cemeteries and posted on every single one. You think I woulda covered them all. Well, learning about the other half of the family tree opened up a whole nother list of cemeteries. So naturally I'm going to take my camera with me and photograph like I did before.  One of the cemeteries I was planning on going to anyway. My friend passed away almost a year ago so I was going to visit her. That's a first for me.

- but of course I will keep you updated on everything. I'm excited about everything especially the meet up. I'm sure when the day comes I'm going to have multiple panic attacks and my intestines will want to send things in multiple directions. I don't know what I'll say or what we'll talk about. Or where we're even going but hey. I'll just... Go with the flow. Which is difficult since I like everything planned out in advance. Lol

That's all for now folks!