Ancestor Obsessions

When I have a few free hours, and I sit down at the computer, I find myself being obsessed with finding information about my ancestors.  Sure, I have the usual names and dates born, dates died, but now I want more ....  like stories.  Finding out they did something interesting.   Mentions in a newspaper or article of some time.    I found one who was the President of the town's bank in 1919.   I found two different ancestors who have a patent.   And a bit of military folks as well.     And yet, I still want to find more!  

Found on Google:  Such deep obsession with ancestry (“progonoplexia”) is by no means a distinctly modern fad. Indeed, it goes back thousands of years to Hesiod’s Theogony and the Bible. Nor is it a peculiarly Western phenomenon, as evident from various forms of ancestor worship all over the world.  Over the past several decades, the range of Americans exhibiting interest in genealogy, for example, has clearly expanded “from those claiming descent from the Mayflower or from Southern aristocrats, to include the descendants of African slaves and immigrants.”

For instance, if your family has lived in the same village for a thousand years there's no reason to be curious about your heritage. It's all around you. Immigrants came to America to invent new lives for themselves, so a lot of times stories from the old country didn't get passed down to later generations.  And to me, that's a shame.  I want the old stories!

It's much too easy to spend hours researching data.  Good thing summer's here and I can't do much outdoors with Sadie!   I'm going to try and wrangle the hard data and weave in some written word to create a Family Tree story for future generations.

Or just for me.

I can't seem to help myself, I'm obsessed!

She's the One!

Today was the day.

It was my designated day to buy another car!  It wasn't in the plan to buy a brand NEW car, but that's exactly what I did!   Yikes!

I headed to the dealer at 9am (on my lunch hour!) and said I wanted to see their used 2016 Malibu I found online, and a new Chevy Cruze -- mostly to make comparisons.   As we tooled around the lot on a golf cart, there was a sea of Chevy Cruzes lined 3 deep against the fence.  There must have been 45 or 50 of them all lined up, ready to sell.  I started peeking at this one, that one, looking at the options.  I was certain I wanted a white one, with grey interior.  Most of the ones white had black interior, there were a few blue ones, again with black interior.  That must be the "new thing".  Too hot in the desert for me.  

And then I spotted one!   It didn't have the extra package of a moon roof and stuff.  It was the upgraded model, as I wanted to have cruise control.   (For those who love irony, there were several Cruze models without cruise control!)  The color is called "Iridium Grey Metallic".  There's a hint of gold metallic in the sunlight!  And, of course, it was the one at the end of the row, in the back.  Took three salesmen to move the cars in order to get this one out.    Yep.  That's me, that's how I roll!

We took a little cruise around the main block.  I put the first 5 miles on my new car :)  It drives like a dream, but boy, the tech available in these new cars is amazing!  OnStar of course, because it's GM, but 4G wifi?  and it links to my phone?  My phone now has an app for "find my car" ???  A bit more complex than the last cars I've purchased!

But it was totally fun!  (Except for haggling about the price and getting payments to where I need them!)   I have a good warranty package
and shouldn't have to pay for car repairs for a
few years.  That's a good load off my mind as well!

So I'm sitting here, happy about the new car - and dreading making payments again!  The guys at Earnhardt Chevrolet treated me right, and it wasn't as much of an ordeal as I imagined it in my mind! I had to turn in my rental car, and they even took care of that for me!
Thanks, Danny and the rest of the guys, for making this as pleasant as it gets. :)