Flower Watching!

For three days and two nights I was able to enjoy the chance to watch my niece, L. I had such a wonderful time playing and spending time with her. She loved that the boys were there, too. Every morning she would call for them as soon as I started with her down the stairs. They would let her chase them in circles around the house and they loved every minute. Bubba was about as thrilled as I was to be able to spend so much time with L. It was sad to have to say good-bye to her when her parents came home (although I know they were thrilled to be back home with her as well).

I Am Back!

I returned home yesterday afternoon from another trip to South Carolina. This time Jo and I went to attend my Lane family reunion. We left Friday morning and stopped for the night at her grandparents' house. We had a great time visiting and eating SEAFOOD!! Yummy! The next day we traveled to Marion County, SC to find some cemeteries where some family members are buried. We got lots of pictures of lots of headstones. We even found this cemetery (pictured) with its lone tree and headstones standing out against the surrounding fields of soybeans.

Next after our cemetery hunting was done, we got to see my family at the reunion. I always love getting to see my Lane family every year. Actually I would love to see them more often if I could. I got to reacquaint myself with family and I got to meet several new family members. It was so funny because I am trying to explain to Jo who all 50+ people are and how we are related. Sometimes I can get them confused, but we worked through it. She then amazed everyone by knowing their names and how they fit into the family. That was a great feat for someone who is a complete stranger, especially when half the time some of us that have been a part of the family for 20-30 years still have trouble with that!

Planning to go to SC Again!

It has not been long since my friend, Jo, and I went to South Carolina together and we are already planning to go again. My grandmother's family is from the northeastern part of SC and every year we have a family reunion in July. This year my parents are taking a trip with their church group, so I called my bestest friend, Jo, and I asked her if she wanted to go with me. After a few weeks of thinking and a few days of trying to changing her work schedule, she was finally able to say yes last week. So we are now planning another trip to SC and we are planning to spend one night with her grandparents, Ruley and Hazel, again. I was so excited by the thought of seeing them again. Of course I got to see them tonight (actually I just left Jo's parents where everyone is located about an hour ago) as they came in for a few days. They were so excited by the thought of us coming to visit, even if it is for one night only. They have already started planning the most important part of our visit, where we will go to eat some seafood! You know it is sometimes hard to believe how easy it is to think of them as my family more than those that actually are! Jo's family has considered me as a family member since Jo and I were in high school. All the rest of the family just accepts me as well. Even tonight Ruley told me that I am just like a granddaughter to them. It almost makes me giddy happy! What am I saying? It does make me giddy happy! ;) I thank God that he put them in my life. I cannot imagine not having them as "my" family!

Passing of Time

The other night I was thinking about the last eleven years that Joe and I have been together. It still blows my mind that it has been over eleven years since our first date and over ten since we were married. Our first date is still a typical date for us today (actually we had one of these just last Friday!), which is dinner and a movie. As I recall, though, our first dinner was a fast food place (probably Wendy's or something like that) and the movie was Interview with a Vampire. I am glad to say that over the years not only has the restaurant choice evolved into something better, but also the movies have as well (at least most of the time).

Wise lessons from Jane Austen

In the novel Pride and Prejudice Jane Austen tells the story of the Bennet family. We learn quite a bit about each family member, but one of the biggest parts of the story deals with the bad behavior of several of the family members.

First you have Mrs. Bennet. She is a bit shallow, silly and a gossip. She has good intentions for her five daughters (ie. wanting them to find wealthy husbands that will be able to adequately support them), but she sometimes does not think before she does things. Sometimes you meet people who talk before they think (which I am sure we all have done at one time or another). That is something I think that Mrs. Bennet suffered from almost constantly. She is also a gossip who tends to talk in a voice that projects a little too much, there for allowing others to hear things that she should not be saying (at least in polite company).

Next we look at Lydia Bennet. This is the youngest of the sisters and she is the favorite of her mother's. I think that when you really think about it favoritism never helps a child, but actually has more of a negative affect. You see, Lydia is pampered, encouraged in her boisterous and sometimes inappropriate behavior by her mother and never corrected by her father. Then you look at how much whining and crying she does in order to get her way (which most times her family gives in if only to get her to hush). When has it ever been good to teach a child that if they whine or cry they can get whatever they desire?

The third is Kitty Bennet. I like to think that Kitty would be a good and proper child if her younger sister, Lydia, did not influence her so much. She was allowing herself to be lead by someone who was a bad example for anyone (unless you want to show how not to act!) and not taught to be able to think for herself. Although she is not as silly as her younger sister, she is not too far behind her.

Mary Bennet is a very unique individual. She is not as pretty as her sisters and is a sort of a loner. She has attempted to become accomplished in her piano and singing as a way of promoting herself. Mary is very dedicated to her playing and singing, but she is mechanical and stiff in both. Her voice is never praised as a pretty voice, but she always tries to display her “talents” any time she can. She also is a preachy in her comments to her family, as well as showing little to no tact in these comments, either.

Although Mr. Darcy once states that Elizabeth and her eldest sister, Jane, are above reproach, they also show some behavior that affect their family. They are very close and are to the point that they exclude the other sisters from their close relationship (though mostly it seems to be unintentional). Jane is a Pollyanna who can never see the bad in others. Elizabeth can sometimes be very prejudiced against people (namely Darcy, Wickham, and Caroline Bingley) when she really does not know them that well.

Now at last is Mr. Bennet. He is a smart and witty man. After he married Mrs. Bennet he realized what she was really like and that he had been blinded by her beauty. He realized way too late that he married a woman that he could not respect. After this realization, as well as the addition of her fits of nerves, he tends to avoid her by sequestering himself in his library most of the day. He also starts to make fun of her, instead of trying to help her to become a more well behaved, intelligent person. Not only was he unsupportive of his wife, but also he is also unsupportive of his daughters. He seems to favor his older two daughters as the most intelligent of his daughters. He is constantly making insulting comment as to his other daughters (ie. they are the silliest girls in the country, cannot speak two words of sense together, etc), though he tries to cover it by attempting to make it humorous. He has never properly prepared for his daughters in their dowries, since he planned to have a son (Since his estate is only to pass to male heir, his family will have no home or the income of the estate to live on after his death). In his passiveness towards his wife and younger daughters he has also not taken the control as head of his family. He shirks his responsibilities for making sure that they are behaving in appropriate ways, avoids going to the public outings with his family, he allows his younger daughters to continue in their wild behavior and had given in and allowed them to be “out” too early. In all of this he ends up losing much of the respect that Elizabeth had held for him. When faced with the issue of allowing his whiny daughter, Lydia, to leave home to spend time with a friend in another city, he shrugs off Elizabeth’s warnings of possible disgrace that not only might come on Lydia herself, but would during that time period also included her family (especially her sisters). His response is:

"Do not make yourself uneasy, my love. Wherever you and Jane are known, you must be respected and valued; and you will not appear to less advantage for having a couple of—or I may say, three—very silly sisters. We shall have no peace at Longbourn if Lydia does not go to Brighton. Let her go then. Colonel Forster is a sensible man, and will keep her out of any real mischief; and she is luckily too poor to be an object of prey to any body. At Brighton she will be of less importance, even as a common flirt, than she has been here. The officers will find women better worth their notice. Let us hope, therefore, that her being there may teach her her own insignificance. At any rate, she cannot grow many degrees worse without authorizing us to lock her up for the rest of her life."

Here is a prime example of where a father should be the one to discipline and keep his family in line. If Mr. Bennet had taken the time to discipline and control his youngest daughter he could have prevented the elopement that involved Lydia and the scoundrel, Wickham. This is a huge scandal and one that could have been horribly damaging to the entire family. This father led his family straight to ruin by his lack of responsibility and was only saved by Mr. Darcy who came in and did a patch job to save the reputation of the Bennets.

New Faces Bring New Questions

In my genealogy quest I have several times met with a new relative who adds to the questions I already have. Like the newest relative I found. She has pictures that I am thrilled to see. How can you express your happiness at seeing pictures of the great-great-great-uncles for which you had been looking for years for information on? What thrilling sensations come over you as you see your great-great-great-grandmother’s picture for the first time!

Now, I am starting to try to fit all the information I am learning from her into what I already have. What I really am is more and more confused. Sometimes I am not sure that I will ever really figure out any of this tangled web of a family tree. Of course I also have times that I can just start spilling out all kinds of information that I have learned.

Until I get these spider webs cleaned out of my head I will leave you with one of the newest picture I was able to get today thanks to my new found cousin and a s-i-l who was wonderful enough to help me with the technical aspect! This is Abram Jones Price (brother of my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Rees Price).