>The following was posted to the Britnames Mail List - Cheers, Stella >"CLEANING MOTHER'S HOUSE" by Michael John Neill >===================================================================== > >It has been nearly a year since fictional genealogist Barbara passed away. >Her daughter, Charlene reflects upon that year in a letter to her friend >Karen. Charlene truly has been busy. Barbara is probably rolling over in >her grave. > >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > >Karen, > >As usual, my cards are late. It has been a busy year. > >We spent much of the year settling up Mother's estate. The house sold >well, but cleaning it took longer than we expected. > >You are probably the only person who did not know Mother was a genealogy >buff. She told practically every human she encountered. I'm convinced >that >genealogy 'nut' was the most accurate phrase. The stuff was all over the >house. The inheritance would have been enough to pay for my new Mercedes >had she not insisted on spending money on that blasted hobby. I don't >know >why she couldn't be more like Tom's mother, Nadine spends her day doing >needlepoint and watching reruns of 50s television shows. Tom just does not >realize how lucky he is, but men never do. My mother had to run off to >cemeteries and courthouses! She even went to a conference in Davenport, >Iowa, last year! Can you imagine? Davenport, Iowa! After she got back, >she was so excited about all that she had learned and all the fun she had. >She was planning on going to another one in California this year. Well, >the grim reaper took care of that. > >Because of my promotion to head of knick knack sales at >Garbageforless.com, I had not been home for several years. I was appalled >to learn that Mother had converted my old bedroom into her family history >"headquarters." My shelves of Teen Beat and other magazines documenting >my adolescence had been replaced with old family photographs, copies of >old >documents, and something called family group sheets. She even got rid of >the pants I wore to my first junior high dance. I cried at the thought. > >I could not bear to go in the room and be reminded that my childhood had >been stripped from me and replaced with an obsession with the past. I >told >the children that if they would clean the room and prepare the items for >the garage (should I say "garbage"?) sale they could have the proceeds. I >learned what true entrepreneurs they are. > >Kenny stripped Mother's hard drive in under ten minutes. I kept hearing >him say "Gedcom is GedGone....GedCom is GedGone...." I have no idea what >it meant, but the computer fetched a good price. Before he unplugged the >computer, he erased all Mom's floppy disks and downloaded public domain >games. He sold these at a nominal price. > >Susan took the old photographs to a flea market and was able to sell many >of them. Some special labels had to be taken off and we had to take them >out of protective envelopes. Mother had written the names on the back of >many of them. At least none of those pictures of depressing old dead >people had our last name written on them. I don't want to be associated >with such sour people. > >Mother had some type of old plat book -- whatever that is. Kenny tore out >the pages individually and sold them separately on eBay. It was so >clever. >His dad said he got much more than if he had left the book in one piece. > >Susan didn't tear the bibles apart though. I thought that showed a >tremendously good sense. She's learning that not everything can be >marketed in the same way. The 1790 bible brought her a good penny, but >she >couldn't get the one from 1900 to bring more than fifty cents. She >donated >it to a local church, and here is where I am so proud of her. We can >write >it off as a charitable deduction. Someone had written what they had paid >for the bible on the back cover. Susan converted that to 2001 dollars and >will use that for our tax deduction amount. I've already enrolled Susan >in >tax lawyer summer camp this coming August. > >There was some old large certificate written on heavy paper. The silly >thing wasn't even in English, so why would Mother keep it? Kenny used the >other side to keep track of the things he had sold. Waste not, want not. >When we were finished we put the paper in the recycling bin. > >The kids put an old wedding dress from the 1870s in the washer to get the >stains out. It was terribly filthy. The worthless thing didn't even >survive the extra long cycle and the half-gallon of bleach. It's doubtful >we can even use it for cleaning rags. > >The dress was in some kind of old trunk. I'm not certain what it was for, >but it had a name stenciled on the front in huge letters along with the >name of a town. Susan give it a good coating of red paint and sold it as >a >toy box. > >The filing cabinets were emptied of their contents, as were the three >shelves of binders. Kenny got the bright idea to shred the paper and sell >it in bags as New Year's confetti. The file folders were too heavy to >shred. > >The baby did not react well to any of this. She cried and fussed almost >the entire time. Kenny thought she wanted tea, which made no sense to me >at all. As she cried, it sounded like she was saying "family tee." She >can't even talk yet and I think Kenny was hearing things. The baby does >not look exactly like my mother though, it's the oddest thing. The >fussing >didn't stop until she spit up an entire bottle of strained prunes on my >junior high jeans, which we did find in the basement. They were >ruined -- >it was the one real loss. Now my past has really been taken from me -- >magazines and all. > >Charlene > >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > >Whether you have a child like Charlene or not, have you thought about what >might happen to your genealogy collection upon your demise? > > > > > > > > > > > > >Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with >chocolate. > > >==== BRIT-SURNAMES Mailing List ==== >Other Rootsweb Genealogy Lists, >http://lists.rootsweb.com/ >UK Census online http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ >

Oh my God Stella!! I felt sick just reading that. What a scary thought, makes you stop and think doesn't it? My kids will probably bury my family tree and all my years of hard work with me. But I'll fool them as eveything will be backed up on CD, given to my lawyer with instructions to give the trees to them when they are 70 or so. Think that would help? Probably not......sigh. Cheers, Bridget I use Archive CD Books to help with my research http://www.archivecdbooks.org ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stella Stanger" <sstanger@sfu.ca> To: <CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2002 4:36 PM Subject: [CAN-BC] Fwd: [BRITNAMES] A Thought For You > > >The following was posted to the Britnames Mail List - Cheers, Stella > > > > >"CLEANING MOTHER'S HOUSE" by Michael John Neill > >===================================================================== > > > >It has been nearly a year since fictional genealogist Barbara passed away. > >Her daughter, Charlene reflects upon that year in a letter to her friend > >Karen. Charlene truly has been busy. Barbara is probably rolling over in > >her grave. > > > >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > > >Karen, > > > >As usual, my cards are late. It has been a busy year. > > > >We spent much of the year settling up Mother's estate. The house sold > >well, but cleaning it took longer than we expected. > > > >You are probably the only person who did not know Mother was a genealogy > >buff. She told practically every human she encountered. I'm convinced > >that > >genealogy 'nut' was the most accurate phrase. The stuff was all over the > >house. The inheritance would have been enough to pay for my new Mercedes > >had she not insisted on spending money on that blasted hobby. I don't > >know > >why she couldn't be more like Tom's mother, Nadine spends her day doing > >needlepoint and watching reruns of 50s television shows. Tom just does not > >realize how lucky he is, but men never do. My mother had to run off to > >cemeteries and courthouses! She even went to a conference in Davenport, > >Iowa, last year! Can you imagine? Davenport, Iowa! After she got back, > >she was so excited about all that she had learned and all the fun she had. > >She was planning on going to another one in California this year. Well, > >the grim reaper took care of that. > > > >Because of my promotion to head of knick knack sales at > >Garbageforless.com, I had not been home for several years. I was appalled > >to learn that Mother had converted my old bedroom into her family history > >"headquarters." My shelves of Teen Beat and other magazines documenting > >my adolescence had been replaced with old family photographs, copies of > >old > >documents, and something called family group sheets. She even got rid of > >the pants I wore to my first junior high dance. I cried at the thought. > > > >I could not bear to go in the room and be reminded that my childhood had > >been stripped from me and replaced with an obsession with the past. I > >told > >the children that if they would clean the room and prepare the items for > >the garage (should I say "garbage"?) sale they could have the proceeds. I > >learned what true entrepreneurs they are. > > > >Kenny stripped Mother's hard drive in under ten minutes. I kept hearing > >him say "Gedcom is GedGone....GedCom is GedGone...." I have no idea what > >it meant, but the computer fetched a good price. Before he unplugged the > >computer, he erased all Mom's floppy disks and downloaded public domain > >games. He sold these at a nominal price. > > > >Susan took the old photographs to a flea market and was able to sell many > >of them. Some special labels had to be taken off and we had to take them > >out of protective envelopes. Mother had written the names on the back of > >many of them. At least none of those pictures of depressing old dead > >people had our last name written on them. I don't want to be associated > >with such sour people. > > > >Mother had some type of old plat book -- whatever that is. Kenny tore out > >the pages individually and sold them separately on eBay. It was so > >clever. > >His dad said he got much more than if he had left the book in one piece. > > > >Susan didn't tear the bibles apart though. I thought that showed a > >tremendously good sense. She's learning that not everything can be > >marketed in the same way. The 1790 bible brought her a good penny, but > >she > >couldn't get the one from 1900 to bring more than fifty cents. She > >donated > >it to a local church, and here is where I am so proud of her. We can > >write > >it off as a charitable deduction. Someone had written what they had paid > >for the bible on the back cover. Susan converted that to 2001 dollars and > >will use that for our tax deduction amount. I've already enrolled Susan > >in > >tax lawyer summer camp this coming August. > > > >There was some old large certificate written on heavy paper. The silly > >thing wasn't even in English, so why would Mother keep it? Kenny used the > >other side to keep track of the things he had sold. Waste not, want not. > >When we were finished we put the paper in the recycling bin. > > > >The kids put an old wedding dress from the 1870s in the washer to get the > >stains out. It was terribly filthy. The worthless thing didn't even > >survive the extra long cycle and the half-gallon of bleach. It's doubtful > >we can even use it for cleaning rags. > > > >The dress was in some kind of old trunk. I'm not certain what it was for, > >but it had a name stenciled on the front in huge letters along with the > >name of a town. Susan give it a good coating of red paint and sold it as > >a > >toy box. > > > >The filing cabinets were emptied of their contents, as were the three > >shelves of binders. Kenny got the bright idea to shred the paper and sell > >it in bags as New Year's confetti. The file folders were too heavy to > >shred. > > > >The baby did not react well to any of this. She cried and fussed almost > >the entire time. Kenny thought she wanted tea, which made no sense to me > >at all. As she cried, it sounded like she was saying "family tee." She > >can't even talk yet and I think Kenny was hearing things. The baby does > >not look exactly like my mother though, it's the oddest thing. The > >fussing > >didn't stop until she spit up an entire bottle of strained prunes on my > >junior high jeans, which we did find in the basement. They were > >ruined -- > >it was the one real loss. Now my past has really been taken from me -- > >magazines and all. > > > >Charlene > > > >* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * > > > >Whether you have a child like Charlene or not, have you thought about what > >might happen to your genealogy collection upon your demise? > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > >Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for you are crunchy and good with > >chocolate. > > > > > >==== BRIT-SURNAMES Mailing List ==== > >Other Rootsweb Genealogy Lists, > >http://lists.rootsweb.com/ > >UK Census online http://freecen.rootsweb.com/ > > > > > ==== CAN-BRITISH-COLUMBIA Mailing List ==== > To New Subscribers : The online indexes to British Columbia Vital Records are at > http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/textual/governmt/vstats/v_events.htm#indexes > These records are freely available and there are several possibilities for accessing them at a low cost. > >