What If Wednesday- A Little Digging

Alright y'all, it's time to get my act together around here- come broken computers or flooded vacation condos!
 
This installment of 'What If Wednesday' is brought to you by my husband who likes to find himself in interesting situations that he's managed to dig himself into.  And believe me he has managed to get himself into some doozies- like that time he dug a ditch with a guy that turned out to be a serial killer. Seriously, a true story.  But a story for another day!

This week's 'What If' is this:  What if you researched your family tree?  Even just a little bit?

The box and the tree, by njaj/ found at: freedigitalphotos.net

Since I have no information about my father's side, I have always assumed that there was not much that I could learn from working through my family tree.  My husband has had a lot of fun proving me wrong!  After finding that his family tree is pretty much exactly as his mother and grandmother had told him, he decided that it would be enjoyable to unearth some mystery and excitement by seeing what he could dig up for me.

A long story short, my husband found out some pretty interesting stuff.  He found not 1, but 2 cases of women who bore children who were then labeled as siblings rather than their own children and one of these was my great grandmother!  He found a boy orphaned by a mother who died in childbirth and a father who died in the civil war.  He also found more than one record of people who spent time in mental hospitals- thereby proving that when I mention that I come from a long line of crazy and that people ought not push it, these are not empty threats!

This whole excercise turned out to be a lot of fun and I'm glad my husband dug down this path.  What about you? What might you know or learn from exploring your family tree?!

The Family That Bowls Together...

My husband and I are fairly involved in the local bowling scene.  My husband is a really good amateur bowler that shows up occasionally to tournaments when he is not studying like mad for an actuarial exam and I am just your average female bowler.  We have a good time and sometimes my husband is lucky enough to cover his costs or even a little bit more.

'Bowling strike showing winning skittles game' by Stuart Miles, found at freedigitalphotos.net

Over time, we have noticed one particular family that always seems to do really well at these tournaments.  Pretty much if you see their last name on the list of competitors you can bet that they will end up at or near the top of the roster.  And that's not the only interesting thing about these people.

This family is one rowdy bunch.  And I'm not talking just the fun and gregarious thing. 
I mean these people are prone to a bit of legal troubles, if you know what I mean.  So they have quite a reputation for being rough around the edges.

But here's the main thing I have noticed about this big, rough, rowdy, bowling family.  They are in this together.  They help each other out.  My husband and I always marvel at how effectively they coach each other and how when it comes to bowling there is no argument among them at all.  It is clear that they are there to benefit one another and to raise up the entire group.  It's really something to see.  There's just something really cool about people who clearly have some serious differences among themselves being able to drop all that and work together so well.

Have you ever been truly surprised by another side of someone that you didn't see on first observation?  Was it a good thing, or a bad thing?  Do you think everyone has something about them that you wouldn't expect?

Maybe There's Hope

I have tried to describe for you what it is like to live out here on the 'Left Coast' and I'm sure that I have annoyed some by reiterating several times about how there is really only one way to express your personal beliefs around here- with a very liberal bend...

Or else you risk rolled eyes, condescending comments and my personal favorite- the 'look'- the one that says more clearly than ever that you are just some kind of imbecile that needs to be re-educated and indoctrinated into true understanding.  Surely then you wouldn't actually attempt to have an other than liberal belief system, or at least would have the decency not to voice it.

So imagine my complete and utter surprise when the other night I pulled into a parking space right between two Toyota Prius vehicles- you know the official vehicle of the northwest that clearly shows your left leaning superiority.  The vehicle that comes standard with an I heart Obamacare bumper sticker and also signifies that anyone who isn't driving said vehicle is obviously looking to slash and burn all forests and feed your children straight coal for breakfast.  (Never mind that electricity comes from coal.  Don't look behind that curtain.)

Now around here pulling into a parking space between two Prius cars is not all that unusual.  They are very popular vehicles in these parts.  No, the thing that was really, truly weird is that the place I was parking at was a gun range.  (I know, I know.  I'm stereotyping.  But tell me you've ever seen a Prius with an NRA sticker and I'll ask for photographic proof.)

We Americans may not be able to come to any agreement on global warming, but it looks like the 2nd Amendment has some pretty universal appeal.

Attribution: Howard Chandler Christy [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons