I was feeling very down in the dumps yesterday evening. It's been a emotional time lately. I was a teenager in the 70s. If you'd asked me then to name my favourite actor I would have instantly replied Robert Redford. Photos of the tennis player Bjorn Borg were all over my bedroom walls.
If you've read a newspaper recently, or switched on the TV news, then you'll appreciate my double sadness. If you don't know what I'm referring to, then please don't go looking.
H wasn't in a great mood either. We'd been reflecting on how the events of the past few days had sucked all the joy out of our lives. Something was needed to lift our spirits. We opened up our laptops to try to find something to cheer each other up with.
All of a sudden I'm squealing with delight, and H is hugging me, and we're both smiling. Life can suddenly get turned upside down in a good way too.
If you know anything about family tree research then you'll appreciate the significance of the following. A new high value cM DNA match across several segments. (Let's call this match C.) C and I are now in frantic conversation via email, and an NPE has now been ruled out, but there is unfortunately endogamy on that line. DNA Painter has helped narrow down the possibilities but it's going to take more detailed research, which neither C or I have the patience for at the moment. A rapid ancestor photo exchange is agreed to be the fastest solution. Concentrate by swapping photos of suspected shared common ancestors. And any family group photos containing unidentified persons.
I suspect the above paragraph is a load of meaningless jargon to most people. So this is a simpler version. I've connected with C, who is a relative I didn't know existed 24 hours ago. We share the same set of 2 x Great Grandparents. His great granddad and mine were brothers. C has emailed over a photo of a large family group enjoying a picnic in a park. There is no clue to the location, but C estimates it's dated just before World War 2 broke out. He doesn't know who any of the people in it are, but perhaps I do?
Indeed I do. I've never seen this particular photo, but I can name every single one of them. I can tell you that it was taken in Highgate Woods shortly before the war started. I remember my Dad telling me all about this hastily arranged gathering. The children happily playing in blissful ignorance of what the adults feared was to come. The adults presumably trying to put on a cheerful face for the sake of the children, despite all the emotions they must have had churning about inside them. I still miss Dad every day and I feel a brief overwhelming sadness that I can't share the excitement of finding C with him.
I quickly excitedly email C, telling him that the cheeky looking boy with sticking up hair sitting on the blanket is my Dad. Plans are quickly made for a research swap. Unfortunately all my paperwork C wants is in a storage box somewhere in the attic.
