Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Understanding People

On my mom's side of the family there is a large family reunion every year - the first Sunday in May. This has been happening for as long as I can remember. When my great grandmother was alive I used to attend these reunions. She died a few years ago and I haven't been to one since.

My mom and grandmother still go every year because they grew up with all of those relatives and know them very well. I don't go because I really don't know anybody there and I hate going through the introductions over and over again year after year...the ones I knew were the young ones like me who no longer attend or the really old ones like my grandmother who have died.

Mom was telling me the other day that another one of our uncles had died (my great grandmother's brother -I didn't know him, or at least I don't remember him - there were lots of siblings) and that led us to talking about the reunion. She began telling me about one of the relatives who has been working on the family tree and has done a lot of research and pulled together this entire history of our family. Mom had asked this woman...not sure if she's a cousin, aunt, or what relation she is...but mom had told her she was very interested in seeing what history she had and would love to help her if she needed help.

The woman said "Well, I've put a lot of work into this and I'm not going to let just anybody see it without getting something for my efforts." EXCUSE ME??!! I looked at mom and asked her if she said what I thought she said? Was this woman...this RELATIVE wanting money for putting together the family history? Mom said yes! Hmmmph! I told mom she can do what she wants but as far as I'm concerned that woman's so proud of her work it can sit right there in her house and she can be proud of it all on her own and nobody will see what she has done. I don't think I'll ever understand what makes some people think the way they do.

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