I spent the last day of 2007 with my sisters. Whenever one of us has a birthday we get together for a sister's day and the birthday girl chooses the activity. I scheduled my sister's day a bit late because there is always so much going on the middle of December. We spent the day cutting up a garbage bag filled my mother's dresses which have been sitting in my closet since she died in 1993. They have now been reduced to quilt patches to become something useful--and we had a lot of fun doing it together.
This was the first time I had seen my older sister since I turned 60. She gave me a framed piece which has found a place on the desk in my study. It says:
Genealogy Disease
Warning: Genealogy Pox
(very contagious after 50 years old)
Symptoms: Continual complaint as to need for names, dates, and places. Patient has a blank expression, sometimes deaf to spouse and children. Has no taste for work of any kind, except feverish looking through records at Libraries and courthouses. Has compulsion to write letters and email. Frequents strange places such as cemeteries, ruins, and remote, desolate country areas. Makes long evening calls, and mumbles to self. Has strange faraway look in eyes.
NO KNOWN CURE TREATMENT: Medication is useless. Disease not fatal but gets progressively worse. Patient should attend genealogy workshops, subscribe to genealogical magazines and be given a quiet corner where he or she can be alone.
Remarks--The unusual nature of this disease is . . . the sicker the patient gets, the more he/she enjoys it.
Her diagnosis of my condition is right on the money, down to the last line. I actually chose to have this this disease and want to keep it!
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