Names, places, and faces. These are the things stored in my mind, sometimes hard to find and at others fresh and clear. I suspect it is that way with all of us. Do we get to choose what we remember? No, I don't think we do. That's the reason we all have things we would just as soon forget. Is the past what was, or what we remember it to be? That's the paradox of memory, it is what we remember it to be. That doesn't mean it is what others remember, even those that were with you at that moment. Over time our memories do change and it can be unsettling when we realize that.
Having spent twenty plus years in the Navy I have moved around quite a bit. The home of my youth was left behind. That was another lifetime. While in the Navy if you were staying long enough to retire, to make it a career, you were labeled a " lifer. " Yes, to young men and women twenty years is a lifetime. I can remember thinking so, twenty years, a lifetime. And today as I sit at this keyboard twenty years seems so brief a time. I've seen that three times over.
Twenty years is generally considered a generation. A lot has transpired since that first Reichart immigrant landed at Castle Garden, New York in 1855. A lot of names, faces and places. How many are remembered? I had to do a lot of work to find a portion of those names. I have been fortunate that a few faces have been discovered as well. The places? I know it began in Greenport on Long Island. Well, at least for the Germans' in my family it did. My grandmother came from Sweden. All the rest of my ancestors came from England as best as I can tell. Some came here very early on, not on the Mayflower, but shortly thereafter. How many lifetimes have passed? How many names, faces and places?
Like a lot of others I have undertaken recording those names, faces and places closest to me. I don't want them forgotten. I can't explain why that compulsion exists, just that it does. When I was younger, it made little difference to me. I heard others speak of these old people and wasn't interested at all. I'm thinking it was because I had never seen them, there was no name or face connected to them. But then maybe it was something else. Maybe it was as simple as I didn't understand their connection to me. And now, after more decades than I like to think about, I became aware. All those names, faces and places could begin with me! The story is now in the first person. I guess that's what makes it interesting. I'm not certain I like what that says about me. But then again, maybe it just means I'm trying to figure out where I belong in the big scheme of things. How many lifetimes do we get? I believe life is eternal. Maybe that is why the Bible begins with all that who begat who stuff. I hadn't really considered that before. Could be that knowing your ancestors is important. It just might come in handy, later on.
Having spent twenty plus years in the Navy I have moved around quite a bit. The home of my youth was left behind. That was another lifetime. While in the Navy if you were staying long enough to retire, to make it a career, you were labeled a " lifer. " Yes, to young men and women twenty years is a lifetime. I can remember thinking so, twenty years, a lifetime. And today as I sit at this keyboard twenty years seems so brief a time. I've seen that three times over.
Twenty years is generally considered a generation. A lot has transpired since that first Reichart immigrant landed at Castle Garden, New York in 1855. A lot of names, faces and places. How many are remembered? I had to do a lot of work to find a portion of those names. I have been fortunate that a few faces have been discovered as well. The places? I know it began in Greenport on Long Island. Well, at least for the Germans' in my family it did. My grandmother came from Sweden. All the rest of my ancestors came from England as best as I can tell. Some came here very early on, not on the Mayflower, but shortly thereafter. How many lifetimes have passed? How many names, faces and places?
Like a lot of others I have undertaken recording those names, faces and places closest to me. I don't want them forgotten. I can't explain why that compulsion exists, just that it does. When I was younger, it made little difference to me. I heard others speak of these old people and wasn't interested at all. I'm thinking it was because I had never seen them, there was no name or face connected to them. But then maybe it was something else. Maybe it was as simple as I didn't understand their connection to me. And now, after more decades than I like to think about, I became aware. All those names, faces and places could begin with me! The story is now in the first person. I guess that's what makes it interesting. I'm not certain I like what that says about me. But then again, maybe it just means I'm trying to figure out where I belong in the big scheme of things. How many lifetimes do we get? I believe life is eternal. Maybe that is why the Bible begins with all that who begat who stuff. I hadn't really considered that before. Could be that knowing your ancestors is important. It just might come in handy, later on.
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