I read this beautiful letter this morning and wanted to share it with my Floyd friends, so I got permission from Judy to re-post it on the Floyd list. It was originally posted by her on the Brethren mailing list. I hope you enjoy it, and are as inspired by her words as I was. Jeanne ---- Original Message ----- From: "J.A. Florian" <[email protected]> To: "LIST: BRETHREN EMAIL LIST" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 1:52 PM Subject: [BRE] Life > My grandmother died in 2000. She had only attended the Church of the > Brethren as a small child before her parents moved, but from those short > few > years she developed a love of the Brethen that lasted her lifetime. She > spoke so much of the Brethren while teaching me to do genealogy, you would > have thought we both regularly attended their services. But, she hadn't > since she was maybe 5 or 6 yrs.... and I never did once attend until I was > 50 and kindly welcomed to a Sunday service. I could easily imagine my > ancestors sitting in the pews listening or singing, all the way back to > imagining my ancestor-founders as they trudged back up the hill to survey > what they had built with their hands. I could "see" men carrying in the > first casket through the side door after backing the wagon up to it... and > later lowering the box into the first grave pre-dug with shovel and pick. > Unfortunately, no record exists of that first burial. I hope to maybe > visit > the church again, if I can. > > My grandma taught me a lot of lessons, not all genealogy but applicable to > it. For example, together we wrote a book but shortly after, I decided to > move (1994). Nothing disrupts doing genealogy as does piling all ones > papers into banker's boxes and carrying them into a new home. It took me > 4 > years (1998) just to find everything again. But, grandma's clock couldn't > stop. In those 4 years, she aged just as normal as breathing, > disappointed > I'm sure that I wasn't pursuing what she still wanted to do about our > family > tree. But, she only said "Life comes first," as she continued sending me > envelopes containing more of her stories, the facts, the things she knew I > ---for the moment--wasn't interested in asking or hadn't thought to ask > about our family. > > "Life comes first" brought me to about 1998 in those four years. I filled > my time with other things, piling her often unopened mailings under my > lamp, > too ashamed that I still hadn't gotten back to genealogy. But, "life > happens" she'd say again and again. We both knew she was getting > older---she knew far better than I knew the shortness of her time and she > pushed herself to tell me everything she could. > > Who knew in the Spring of 1999 (10 years ago this month) that "life" would > again interfere with me doing genealogy. I became ill overnight and spent > the next year in a hospital bed in my dining room, while doctors scratched > their heads about what was wrong with me. Still grandma kept reassuring > me--through her disapointment--that "life comes first." Within that year, > though, her hearing got worse so it became difficult to even converse on > the > phone, I trapped in my bed and she trapped in an Assisted Living Apartment > that continued to narrow her life to 2 tiny rooms. Her only companions > were > her Bible, her genealogy (which she'd been dutifully shipping to me in > stuffed brown envelopes) and the occasional visits from her daughter (who > could care less about genealogy). She held onto her pictures, though, > unready to part with them. > > Who knew that in 2000 my grandma would die? By then, I could walk some > but > only with a walker. My sister and brother-in-law had to hold me up on > both > sides just to walk a short distance to the funeral tent over her grave. > The > skies opened with torrential rain just after we, the last to get there, > tucked our bodies under the small green tent. My whole back side was > soaked > before the preacher even got out his Bible. It was the last time I > walked > that distance, until my sister (the same one who held me up in 2000) > dropped > dead of a heart attack. > > A cousin, he 300-pounds at least, was the only one with a sturdy enough > body > to "block" my descent down the hillside to my sister's open grave, using > his > foot and leg to brace my foot and leg with each side-step I made down that > very, very long hill. My sister, my friend, was gone. She was the > "co-researcher" with grandma and me, and after grandma died, my sister > tried > her best to be my feet and continue researching. Starting in 1983, I had > become grandma's feet, running to the court house and library... and Cathy > became my feet when I was too ill to do it myself after 1999. > > I admit, I became rather lost after both my co-researchers and beloved > family members died. I couldn't even look at "Book 2" that we 3 had been > working on off and on since "book one" almost a decade earlier. For 3 > years > (at least), I couldn't stand to read one sentence of what we compiled. > > Since 1999, 2000, and 2003 and those major turns of life, I've had many > false-starts with returning to do genealogy. I'd have best intentions, > for > sure! But "life happens" kept happening. Life continues its march, no > matter what we intend or wish to do, whether the events are small blips or > major catastrophes. We move homes... the roof leaks... a storm batters the > siding... illness hits us... the dog / cat gets sick....our adult kid(s) > get > into a tight corner... we lose our jobs... we find new jobs.... our > daughter > has the first grandchild.... we pronounce we're going to "get back to > doing > genealogy" only to have something else interfere! > > Life happens. For me, it's been 10 years of varied illnesses and (now > distant) deaths. > > Our Brethren List has been quiet a long, long while. Either all of us are > sitting in front of our brick walls and admiring the masonry, or we each > have been hit with a series of events called "life happens". > > I suspect, probably rightly so, that this List will pick up again when > "Life" gives each of us a breather, one long enough to dust off our > genealogy papers, re-acquaint ourselves with "John married Sally Belle on > March 26, 1796", catch the genealogy "bug" fresh between our teeth, stop > long enough to find a toothpick, and then, jump back into queries, and > inquiries, and a renewed passion to find our roots. > > Until then, we'll continue getting our genealogy magazines, renew our > society memberships, and try like the dickens to make "Life" behave long > enough that we can converse, once again in our imaginations, with > ancestors > long dead. Until then, today's Life takes precedence---for us all. > > Judy Florian > Historian, Ten Mile Church of the Brethren > Ten Mile, Marianna, PA >

Jeanne,   I don't think I have read a more beautiful tribute to family, past and present.  Time can and will get away from us all as it likes to remind us from time to time.  Thank you for passing the letter on to us.   Cheryl  CHERYL PETRO --- On Sun, 4/5/09, Jeanne Mower <[email protected]> wrote: From: Jeanne Mower <[email protected]> Subject: [VAFLOYD] LIFE To: [email protected] Date: Sunday, April 5, 2009, 10:16 PM I read this beautiful letter this morning and wanted to share it with my Floyd friends, so I got permission from Judy to re-post it on the Floyd list. It was originally posted by her on the Brethren mailing list. I hope you enjoy it, and are as inspired by her words as I was. Jeanne ---- Original Message ----- From: "J.A. Florian" <[email protected]> To: "LIST: BRETHREN EMAIL LIST" <[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 1:52 PM Subject: [BRE] Life > My grandmother died in 2000. She had only attended the Church of the > Brethren as a small child before her parents moved, but from those short > few > years she developed a love of the Brethen that lasted her lifetime. She > spoke so much of the Brethren while teaching me to do genealogy, you would > have thought we both regularly attended their services. But, she hadn't > since she was maybe 5 or 6 yrs.... and I never did once attend until I was > 50 and kindly welcomed to a Sunday service. I could easily imagine my > ancestors sitting in the pews listening or singing, all the way back to > imagining my ancestor-founders as they trudged back up the hill to survey > what they had built with their hands. I could "see" men carrying in the > first casket through the side door after backing the wagon up to it... and > later lowering the box into the first grave pre-dug with shovel and pick. > Unfortunately, no record exists of that first burial. I hope to maybe > visit > the church again, if I can. > > My grandma taught me a lot of lessons, not all genealogy but applicable to > it. For example, together we wrote a book but shortly after, I decided to > move (1994). Nothing disrupts doing genealogy as does piling all ones > papers into banker's boxes and carrying them into a new home. It took me > 4 > years (1998) just to find everything again. But, grandma's clock couldn't > stop. In those 4 years, she aged just as normal as breathing, > disappointed > I'm sure that I wasn't pursuing what she still wanted to do about our > family > tree. But, she only said "Life comes first," as she continued sending me > envelopes containing more of her stories, the facts, the things she knew I > ---for the moment--wasn't interested in asking or hadn't thought to ask > about our family. > > "Life comes first" brought me to about 1998 in those four years. I filled > my time with other things, piling her often unopened mailings under my > lamp, > too ashamed that I still hadn't gotten back to genealogy. But, "life > happens" she'd say again and again. We both knew she was getting > older---she knew far better than I knew the shortness of her time and she > pushed herself to tell me everything she could. > > Who knew in the Spring of 1999 (10 years ago this month) that "life" would > again interfere with me doing genealogy. I became ill overnight and spent > the next year in a hospital bed in my dining room, while doctors scratched > their heads about what was wrong with me. Still grandma kept reassuring > me--through her disapointment--that "life comes first." Within that year, > though, her hearing got worse so it became difficult to even converse on > the > phone, I trapped in my bed and she trapped in an Assisted Living Apartment > that continued to narrow her life to 2 tiny rooms. Her only companions > were > her Bible, her genealogy (which she'd been dutifully shipping to me in > stuffed brown envelopes) and the occasional visits from her daughter (who > could care less about genealogy). She held onto her pictures, though, > unready to part with them. > > Who knew that in 2000 my grandma would die? By then, I could walk some > but > only with a walker. My sister and brother-in-law had to hold me up on > both > sides just to walk a short distance to the funeral tent over her grave. > The > skies opened with torrential rain just after we, the last to get there, > tucked our bodies under the small green tent. My whole back side was > soaked > before the preacher even got out his Bible. It was the last time I > walked > that distance, until my sister (the same one who held me up in 2000) > dropped > dead of a heart attack. > > A cousin, he 300-pounds at least, was the only one with a sturdy enough > body > to "block" my descent down the hillside to my sister's open grave, using > his > foot and leg to brace my foot and leg with each side-step I made down that > very, very long hill. My sister, my friend, was gone. She was the > "co-researcher" with grandma and me, and after grandma died, my sister > tried > her best to be my feet and continue researching. Starting in 1983, I had > become grandma's feet, running to the court house and library... and Cathy > became my feet when I was too ill to do it myself after 1999. > > I admit, I became rather lost after both my co-researchers and beloved > family members died. I couldn't even look at "Book 2" that we 3 had been > working on off and on since "book one" almost a decade earlier. For 3 > years > (at least), I couldn't stand to read one sentence of what we compiled. > > Since 1999, 2000, and 2003 and those major turns of life, I've had many > false-starts with returning to do genealogy. I'd have best intentions, > for > sure! But "life happens" kept happening. Life continues its march, no > matter what we intend or wish to do, whether the events are small blips or > major catastrophes. We move homes... the roof leaks... a storm batters the > siding... illness hits us... the dog / cat gets sick....our adult kid(s) > get > into a tight corner... we lose our jobs... we find new jobs.... our > daughter > has the first grandchild.... we pronounce we're going to "get back to > doing > genealogy" only to have something else interfere! > > Life happens. For me, it's been 10 years of varied illnesses and (now > distant) deaths. > > Our Brethren List has been quiet a long, long while. Either all of us are > sitting in front of our brick walls and admiring the masonry, or we each > have been hit with a series of events called "life happens". > > I suspect, probably rightly so, that this List will pick up again when > "Life" gives each of us a breather, one long enough to dust off our > genealogy papers, re-acquaint ourselves with "John married Sally Belle on > March 26, 1796", catch the genealogy "bug" fresh between our teeth, stop > long enough to find a toothpick, and then, jump back into queries, and > inquiries, and a renewed passion to find our roots. > > Until then, we'll continue getting our genealogy magazines, renew our > society memberships, and try like the dickens to make "Life" behave long > enough that we can converse, once again in our imaginations, with > ancestors > long dead. Until then, today's Life takes precedence---for us all. > > Judy Florian > Historian, Ten Mile Church of the Brethren > Ten Mile, Marianna, PA > To contact Listowner: Rena Worthen [email protected] View the Floyd County Virginia Website at: http://www.rootsweb.com/~vafloyd/floyd.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thank you. That was beautiful. Paula Paula Kelley Ward San Antonio, Texas [email protected] "Live as though you will die tomorrow, Dream as though you will live forever!" -- Mahatma Gandhi