Weekend With Shades - Saturday - September 26

THE HUMOR OF IT
BY DONNA POINTKOUSKI
A Monthly - Weekend With Shades -

I’m fortunate enough to have photos of six of my eight great-grandparents. But I’m not fortunate enough to have tons of photos of greats and great-greats at various stages of their lives. I admire those who do possess large collections of family treasures. Okay, so maybe it’s more like envy and not admiration. When it comes to great photos of your ancestors, I’m definitely one of the “have nots” instead of the “haves”. But I have tried to remedy this – why should so few family historians have all the fun?

My desire to find more old family photos has become an obsession. My family has been no help in feeding my addiction. I have tracked down cousins by the dozens and popped the magic question: “Do you have any photos of our great-grandparents?” But no one has delivered the goods so far. A few of them torture me with hints that photos exist, buried in someone’s basement or attic. So I keep asking, like one of those pop-up windows on the computer that asks “Are you sure?”