Tag: Facebook Reunions

 

 

When I was around 10 yrs old, our family left Indiana. Not all of my family, but my immediate family. My parents, sisters and brother moved to AZ. Over the yrs I haven’t really known any of my family members which 90% still live in Indiana. Facebook has made it possible to reunite with many of them.

Each day I find it interesting when a see a new family members name show up under a family member I have recently got to know a bit because of Facebook. Not all things are bad when it comes to Facebook. I guess it depends on how you use it.

The first family members I got to know are my cousins Raelene and Allen Young. From my childhood memories, they are the ones I remember the most about in a good way. One night I got a call because I posted a search on Ancestry.com to find Allen and Raelene. I was beyond elated when the voice on the phone was Allen’s. He seen that add 12 yrs after I posted it. It was awesome to be reconnected with those who I remembered. And if my memory serves me right, we could get in trouble without much effort. In July or August I am hoping to make it out there to Indiana to meet them after a 40 yrs.

Then I seen this young girls post named Page Elder. My maiden name is Elder. She wasn’t familiar to me, but her grandpa was because he is my Uncle that I never got to know. Uncle George passed away not so long ago. Now, his son George Jr (Pages dad) I have talked to once in a while on MySpace, but I never use that. Because of Pages post, I have been reconnected with so many other cousins.

I do wish I would have gotten to know Uncle George. Through the posts and pictures of Page and all the other cousins, I could tell how loved he was and is and how much of a family man he was. He seems like a person I would like to have known in this lifetime.

I have enjoyed getting to know Fern and Lori via Facebook. There is one other cousin that I remember from when I was younger and that is Monica. I think it is funny how it is that I remember her. It is only because we rode the same school bus to school and she is a leap year baby. How in the world I remember that, I have no clue at all. But I do. I somewhat remember one of my uncles, but I don’t really have few memories of him for whatever reason. My dad is close to Uncle Chet, but usually when he would visit dad, I usually wasn’t home much when he was visiting.

I have been very reluctant toprivate message some of my cousins to begin with because of things that some in my family has done. I was told by one sister to never talk to anyone from Knox because our family is hated because of things apparently done in the past. Of course I was 10 at the time, so I was clueless on those things.  Small memories and puzzle pieces mainly. What my sister told me has been so far from the truth.

I do know that there has been a lot of things said and done in the past. But not one of the cousins I have talked to blamed me for those things my parents and family members has done. They have been awesome when it comes to helping me get to know who they are. I have a feeling the reason I wasn’t to talk to them was because we would get together and talk and things would start flying out of the closets. Which is OK, but that isn’t why I want to know those who are family. I only want to know them, because they are family.

These are some of the things I have come to know and love about my family I have not met yet.

1. They are a lot like me and love to have fun
2. They love the Lord or most do from what I can see.
3. They are normal or as normal as I am (Is that possible, lol)
4. There carry many of the same traits I carry… (that can be scary,lol)
5. They didn’t judge me because of who my parents are or my siblings.
6. I always remembered these funny mushrooms called Morels. I never knew what they were but we would go find them and eat them. My cousins still do this.
7. I always wondered why I eat the foods I eat. None of my family meaning hubby and kids like the things I do. They all eat what I call normal foods.
8. They are a very supportive family and love each other.
9. Not at all whacked out like my sister told me… OK, maybe a bit, but in the good way I am, lol… Nothing wrong with having fun and enjoying life 🙂
10. And more I am sure…

I feel like i have been very blessed. It all started with a call from Allen and Raelene. The internet can have some bad things, but it can also have some wonderful things.

My sister Denise is the one that told me to never look up or talk to anyone in Indiana. And I am so glad I did. There are some that she has told me to not talk to and I haven’t gotten up the nerve to do that. And that is a lady named Linda and the family there. I think that is Tennessee though. But I think that is because she has burned Linda and those there and some other family members. So taking this in baby steps.

But all in all it has been a wonderful experience and I am grateful for social networks like Facebook. I am pretty excited to meet family face to face and get to know them on a more personal level it’s nice putting a face to the name, even though most names I don’t know or remember.

Another great thing about social networks is that I love that I can share my faith. It is a perfect platform to do that. And if people don’t like that, they can scroll on by. It’s pretty cool being able to bring God and family together in one place that we call the great social network Facebook.