a lot to ask

  With the news that I was to become a great grandfather my thoughts once again turn to the family tree. Like the majority of trees there are branches and there are twigs. A new twig has formed. It is expected to bloom in January. I thought about how I knew my great grandfather Floyd as a child. I was sixteen when he passed. I admit I wasn't really aware of that at the time, him being a great grandfather I mean, to me he was just gramp. I'm aware that I may have the opportunity to talk to his 4th great grandchild! I also have photographs and some articles that belonged to him. His wife, my 3rd great grandmother held me once, but I don't remember her. I was three years old when she passed. All I know of her are stories, but I have some of her most treasured items. Namely I have her Bibles. 

  I have come to understand that each of us create our own treasure. Treasure is a personal thing. I often refer to that stuff as my artifacts and the paper products as the archives. Artifacts are those little items that have survived over the years and been passed down. I feel fortunate to have a good number of such things. That is mostly the result of coming from parents and grandparents that didn't throw anything away. We do live in a more disposable time, and I wonder how much will be saved. You can't really create a collectible. That sentiment was best expressed in the Childs book, the Velveteen Rabbit. We may retain things, hold onto them because we are urged to do so by our parents, but the real value is assigned by ourselves. Each one of us hold a piece of the past, a unique piece in the puzzle. That piece cannot be replaced. Which piece will you choose to save?

  That's something I have given thought to and continue to do so. For me it isn't a trivial thing but an obligation. For whatever reason, circumstance or plan, I have been entrusted with a piece of the past. I have to view that as a gift from my creator. Without a past one can't plan for the future. Each generation of mankind has had the obligation to improve, to make things better in the world. It is often said that all parents simply want better for their children. I can say I always did. And I did that by handing them the future. I was able to do that because of what was left behind by my parents, grandparents and every generation before them. Pieces of history, pieces of the puzzle.

  For well over a decade, I have been writing these blogs and posting my thoughts. I had thought about that when I first began. As I said then, it's pretty amazing if you really think about it. I can write down my thoughts and pass them into the future. I'm told they will remain in cyberspace somewhere, residing on a server forever. Somewhere there is a library larger than anyone can conceive. It's the stuff of science fiction really. I've seen episodes of Star Trek where they access that library of information and I'm guessing that will be a reality in the years ahead. Will it be another one hundred, one thousand years or more? No one knows that answer. Amazing that I will be indexed in that library somewhere, somehow. Who or why anyone will access any of this I can only speculate on. My thought it would have to be simple curiosity. This is what great grandfather had to say. 

 My thinking is I would like to leave more than some words I have written. I want to pass down some treasures. Thing is, they are only treasures to me. That's why I say each of us will create our own treasure. The problem will be determining what treasure should go to what person? The problem there being most of us won't know what we treasure until the person holding that treasure is gone. What I mean is if I could go back in time and collect some things from my parents, grandparents or great parents I'm certain they would be surprised. None of those items would be anything they treasured or thought of in that way. 

 The truth is I am the only one that thinks of these things as treasure. My treasure. The thing is that your treasure is what will keep me alive! And what is disturbing about that? I don't really get to decide. The best I can hope to do is convince you to hold onto my treasure. All I can do is ask. I want you to not only hold my treasure for me but to hold all the treasure I have held from those before me. It's a lot to ask.