Living in Memory

They say that you are never really dead as long as someone remembers you.

I think about that sometimes while climbing around in my family tree. Take Ivan Lee, a very distant cousin I discovered today. He was born in 1943, and he died in 1943.

I can’t help but pause for a moment to let myself think about how his mother must have felt when she lost her baby boy. And to wonder what kind of life he would have had if he had grown up.

I never knew he existed before today, but now he will live on in my family tree and from time to time I will be reminded of this little baby that died a generation before I was even born.

If there is one reason that everyone should do genealogy, I suppose this is it. So that you can be remembered.

Maybe you only tell the story of your own parents or children, or even only your own story.

But when you tell it and share it, someday someone will come along and appreciate that you lived. Some grand child or cousin will relate to your story and remember you, even if they never met you.