You Just Never Know . . .

. . . what freaky things might happen when you dance with the ancestors.

Yeah, there's the normal skeleton or two, possibly three, you might find in the closet. Every family has a skeleton or two, possibly three, in the closet. Trust me on that one.

Most families also lose touch with family members throughout the years. It happens. It's part of life. Enough said.

My family is no different. Many years ago, decades actually, we lost touch with my father's cousin's family. I don't know why, no one really remembers the why, it just happened, and we all moved on with our lives until, well, I began to dance with the ancestors. Like how I keep working the blog title into the posts? Ha!

So, we lost touch, years passed, and then I began to do the family research thing. Then, yesterday, my sister and I went to visit my paternal cousin and he handed over some ancient pictures. We knew some of the people. We didn't know most of the people, but we were 97% sure it was our grandmother's family, which got me to thinking about the estranged/lost branch of the family.

Hello, Google. I keyed in the following: Martha Smith, wife of Jess Andrews. BAM! I found a link to her son. So, flip on over to http://www.whitepages.com/, type in his name and - BAM - two addresses for the son.

Now, for the freaky part: both addresses are within minutes of my house. Minutes, people, minutes. FREAKY!

One address has a phone number. Yes, I did. I dialed the number and a woman answered. I told her . . .

. . . my name is Scott, and I believe I'm related to your husband. Were his parents . . .

Long story not really short, yep, I was talking to my cousin's wife. It turns out that her first cousin is . . . my neighbor. Seriously, people, my neighbor. Oh, and her husband, through his paternal side of the family, has a cousin who lives . . . on my street as well.

First, small street, no more than twenty houses. Second - OMG! FREAKY!

So, with one short phone call, I've made a family connection that can hopefully help fill in some of the blanks on my grandmother's paternal family, and, will also get me in touch with this cousin's siblings so we can meet, swap stories, and hopefully identify the people in the photographs. Oh, and also net me some more photos to add to the family document. Woo-hoo!

So, when you begin to dance with your ancestors and befriend Google, you never know, your relatives might be just around the corner . . . literally.

S