Looking back at 2009, I am amazed by the opportunities that came my way. If you had told me a year ago that I would pan for gold in the place my great-great-grandfather did, find a cousin named Gayle Christison (my maiden name), speak to 200 people at the Pikes Peak Regional History Symposium about my great-great-grandfather and Cash Creek (Cache Creek), and keep finding new developments in the cattle rustling story, I probably would have said, "Yeah, right."
These opportunities would not come without people. I am so grateful to each of you who read my blog and to you whose paths have crossed with mine on Twitter and Facebook. I appreciate librarians, archivists, and regular people who listen to my story and answer my questions, pointing me in the direction I need to go.
New Year's resolutions have never held much interest to me. Oh, I can set them and fail within two weeks, so I tend not to even come up with resolutions. But as I think about the opportunities that have surfaced in the past few years, I realize I do have some attributes I try to live out in genealogy and life. These are beneficial when opportunities arise and I hope to become better at each in the years to come.
In 2010, I resolve to:
Be curious and see where the next computer click, phone call, e-mail, turn in the road will take me.
Be courageous and follow up on what I find. Make the phone call, set the date, make the drive, meet new people.
Be curious and see where the next computer click, phone call, e-mail, turn in the road will take me.
Be courageous and follow up on what I find. Make the phone call, set the date, make the drive, meet new people.
Be faithful and stay on track. Write the book, do the research, enter the data.
Be true to myself. Write the way I write, research the way I research, and don't compare myself to others.
Be open to new opportunities, new people, new ideas.
Be courteous to others and respect their stories. Remember that the pioneers I research and write about have family today who may not know the whole story and who have their own family stories.
Some attributes are easier for me than others: curious is easy, courageous - not so much. But all of them are essential in what I love to do - research and writing. I would love to make a resolution that the book will be written in 2010, but I won't. The book will be done when the time is right.
Here is to the New Year - 2010 - Bring it ON!
(This post was written for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.)
Here is to the New Year - 2010 - Bring it ON!
(This post was written for the 87th edition of the Carnival of Genealogy, hosted by Jasia at Creative Gene.)
