GENEALOGY VIRUS WARNING! Very Contagious especially to Adults. It is thought to be spread by some unknown bug or gene that strikes almost without warning. It strikes persons of either sex and usually starts after the age 50, about the time when the nest has empties and work responsibilities are less pressing. Symptoms: The first sign of the ailment is that the person develops a new need for finding out, and writing down, all about his family, even those things that others wish would be left untold. There is generally a compulsion to search for names, dates, and places. The patient often develops a blank expression, is sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Normally loses his appetite for work of any kind except that which involves the feverish looking through records at libraries and courthouses. He often has a compulsion to write letters to unknown cousins who often could care less about his queries. He often swears at the mailman when he doesn't leave mail from someone he has learned about third hand. The patient likes to frequent such strange places as cemeteries, dilapidated ruins and remote desolate rural areas. It may be noted that he makes secret night calls and tries to hide the telephone bill from his spouse. He mumbles constantly to himself as he turns page after page in some dusty tome he has found in an out-of-the-way antique shop. He often has a faraway look in his eyes as he reads the story of some obscure ships captain or brave western pioneer. Treatment: Medication has been proven useless. The disease is not usually fatal but does get progressively worse until some other ailment overcomes the victim. The best treatment is to provide a measure of isolation so that the patient will not be disturbed for hours on end and to humor him when he gets the urge to travel back to the state from which his ancestors came, or to purchase a new, more powerful computer. He should be encouraged to secure therapy at such places as: genealogy workshops, family reunions and historical society meetings. It has been found that periodic doses of genealogy books and magazines, including an occasional new genealogy program for his computer. Prognosis: The malady often leads to eye strain, gradual loss of memory for common household chores, and a loss of the lower limbs due to lack of exercise. It is not normally a fatal disease by it has been noted that the sicker a patient gets, the more he seems to enjoy it. ~~~Thanks to Fred Hawkins - TNMAUTY-L@rootsweb.com~~~