I have been doing my genealogy as a way to connect myself to my past. It is a fascinating journey and I have absolutely NO idea what I am going to find because when I was growing up I was not encouraged to know much about my mother's family and was absolutely forbidden to know my dad or his family after I got to a certain age. I did my DNA for Ancestry.com and am finding cousins I never knew I had. I also found out that my dad had siblings on his father's side.

I had searched for my dad's maternal grandfather for many years and came up empty because certain of his brother's descendants lied to me and threatened me -- even ordering me to stop pursuing the search. But I did not give up and finally used census records and found descendants of another of his brothers who were quite willing to answer my questions and even sent me photos of him and his family!!! I also found his grandparents through DNA matches in Oklahoma. I got to visit his grandmother's grave in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. That was the highlight for me in 2018.

Of course the lowest point in my life also happened in 2018 when my mother died. I stopped doing my genealogy for quite a while because none of it just seemed to be worth it without her there sharing in my joy in my discoveries. But I started up again and making discoveries and contacts.