The Journey Ahead...

Each of us face a journey whether we realize it or not...the journey of life. Dictionary.com defines a journey as "a traveling from one place to another, usually taking a rather long time" or "passage or progress from one stage to another." I believe that perhaps life's journey is both. We know only two certain things in life; we are born and we die. None of us can escape these certainties. The time we are given in between these two points of certainty make up who we are. How we spend our time and the passage from one stage in life to another defines us, transforms us, and ultimately consumes us.

I cannot help but reflect on the interesting parallel that I find myself in....a sort of journey within a journey within a journey. Finding Nona is about more than just digging thru history to find the relics of the past, but rather it is about reliving or more specifically retelling her life's adventures and in so doing, writing an interesting story for myself. Who will I meet along the way and how will they shape who I am and will become? What I do know today is that I can't wait. Finding Nona is literally traveling from one place to another and yes, it will take a rather long time, but I know that this is part of my life's journey. I cannot escape it and nor do I want to.

Now, to the journey ahead. In a previous post, I made mention of a desperate attempt to find out any information on who the great aunt was that had works who hung in the National Gallery Museum in London. I said it would be a miracle if anyone answered my post on www.genealogy.com. Since I have obtained more information, I look back on this post and realize that it was a miracle that someone did in fact answer my hail Mary. I was shooting completely from the dark having no specific names or any facts other than Nona's name. My journey now has reached a fork in the road. Is it possible to walk two paths at the same time...maybe I will try. A kind soul provided me with an entire family tree of Nona's father. One half of the great aunt equation. I have some names and a start.

However, I have a more immediate task at hand. I called my step grandmother. This was a hard call for me to make as I have only seen her once in the years of my memory and that is when my grandfather passed away. She had fond memories of Nona, but she could not remember anything specifically about her. At 92 years old, she still lives on her own in the house my grandfather bought for them many, many years ago. I left her with a promise to visit soon and my hope is she has papers, files, paintings...anything that my grandfather might have kept waiting for me in a hidden spot in the attic of her home. Yes...a treasure in the attic. In fact, she does not live far from Central Christian church and the town where Nona lived. I contacted the church and we have made plans to take a trip to East Tennessee this fall. Now I must start planning for this journey that lies ahead. I must make the most of this trip!