a detour, a u-turn, and back to the beginning

Sorry I haven’t written in so long.

I’ve been busy… 

for four years. 

Isn’t it funny how you start down a path and how easily small decisions made along the way, that at the time seem to be in line with your journey, ultimately take you far, far from your end goal… far from the path you thought you were on.

Thus goes my genealogical journey.  It started as a meander, then I found myself skipping merrily – obsessed and passionate – settling into a good, solid, steady but happy pace. I was writing, teaching, presenting, and I was pretty dang good. But life interfered, and I found myself needing more financial stability.

the detour

I took a slight detour on my path, that I thought would keep me headed in the same direction. I was excited to take a position at WikiTree because I believe in collaborative genealogy, friendly community, and especially in “free”. I watched the website go from a teeny tiny staff of just a couple of us, to double, maybe triple that; adding teams of volunteer leaders heading up scores of even more volunteers, managing projects, categories, keeping an eye out for vandals, and for those who just needed some assistance. It was quite a ride  — constantly improving, constantly changing. 

Four years passed, and I realized I wasn’t on the same path I started down. Instead of researching family history, keeping the pulse of changes in technology, sharing, writing, and teaching others, I was spending all of my time instructing folks how to retrieve a lost password, explaining what a GEDCOM is, and occasionally being able to help someone in a way that made at least a small difference in their own genealogical success. 

the u-turn

I’m back to the beginning again. Just me, writing for me, again. The ultimate genealogy do-over. 

I am, as always, relatively curious to see what’s around the next bend.

🙂