A Sunny Afternoon and A Discovery

We had a good weekend around the yellow house. We really didn’t do anything big, but it was nice to just have a slow, easy weekend. It was a time to just soak up the brilliant sunshine that we’ve been having over the weekend. It’s still sunny today…hooray! (smile) It’s hard to keep my mind on anything because I just want to be outside all the time. Yeah, I’m crazed right now. LOL.

Anyway, on Saturday, we went into town to do an errand and then had some KFC. It was good since we don’t have it very often. It made me think of summer days back home. Brit Boy remarked that everything looks happier and more laid back when the sun shines. We are so alike. So we finished up our eats and then headed home.

We took the scenic route home back to our more rural area and then we kept going a bit. The thought of Wiltshire in the sunshine was just too good to pass up, so we drove a bit past home, further into the country. It was absolutely gorgeous! Wow! With the sun shining, everything was just so much more green and beautiful. The rolling hills with livestock dotting the scene, and little farmhouses scattered along the way, made for a postcard ready picture.

Then it was time to turn around and head back home. Brit Boy wanted to watch a big football/soccer match. But it was fine…I had enough of that natural beauty already stored away in my brain. (smile)

While Brit Boy was watching his match, I took out my laptop and started something I’ve been meaning to start working on. You see, I’m very interested in genealogy. I always have been. I’ve always loved wondering about the people who came before me. In the future, I’d love to write a full history of my family on both sides based on the family trees I’ve done in the past. So my bit of research Saturday was a step along that path. I want to fill in some cracks and pull it all together.

I thought that I’d start with my dad, who passed away when I was a child. My dad was several years older than my mom and I came late in his life. So he lived a lot of his life before I was born. Lately I’ve been very intrigued to find out more about the time he spent in the Army during World War II. I very often wish that I had been a bit older when he passed away, so that I could’ve asked him more about this time in his life. But I was a kid who was playing with her Barbie, so I didn’t think to ask very much. (smile) So now I’m going to put my love of research to good use and find out what I can on my own.

I got my first find pretty quickly. I did a search in the National Archives and found his military service during World War II listed there. It was a cool moment. I got this tingle down my spine seeing his name there with the details that let me know it was him. It was like I was reaching through history and touching my dad’s hand. What a wonderful feeling. (smile)

So now, I’m going to continue since I’ve finally started on this journey. I didn’t get to know my dad for very long, so in a way I’m reacquainting myself with him after all this time. I hope to weave together the story of him, my mom, and all those who came before me. Looking back keeps me grounded and I love it sometimes. In the meantime, I'm going to live a life in the now and hope that I have something of my own to add in the end. (smile)