We are the chosen. My feelings are in each family 
 there is one who seems called to find the ancestors. 

   To put flesh on their bones  and make them live 
 again, to tell the family story and to feel that 
 somehow they know and approve. To me, doing 
 genealogy is not a cold gathering of facts but, 
 instead, breathing life into all who have gone 
 before. 

   We are the story tellers of the tribe. All tribes have
 one. We have been called as it were by our genes. 
 Those who have gone before cry out to us:  Tell 
 our story.  So, we do.  In finding them, we somehow
 find ourselves. 

   How many graves have I  stood before now and 
 cried? I have lost count. How many times have I 
 told the ancestors you have a wonderful family you
 would be proud of us? 

   How many times have I walked up to a grave and 
 felt somehow there was love there for me? I cannot 
 say. 

   It goes beyond just documenting facts. It goes to 
 who am I and why  do I do the things I do? It goes
 to seeing a cemetery about to be lost forever to
 weeds and indifference and saying I can't let this
 happen. 

   The bones here are bones of my bone and flesh 
 of my flesh. It goes  to doing something about it. 
 It goes to pride in what our ancestors  were able 
 to accomplish. How they contributed to what we 
 are today. It  goes to respecting their hardships 
 and losses, their never giving in or giving up, 
 their resoluteness to go on and build a life for 
 their family. 

   It goes to deep pride that they fought to make and 
 keep us a Nation. It goes to a deep and immense 
 understanding that they were doing it for us. 

 That we might be born who we are. That we might 
 remember them. So we do. With love and caring 
 and scribing each fact of their existence,  because 
 we are them and they are us. So, as a scribe called, 

 I tell the story of my family. It is up to that one 
 called in the next generation to  answer the call 
 and take their place in the long line of family 
 storytellers. 

   That, is why I do my family genealogy, and that 
 is what calls those young and old to step up and 
 put flesh on the bones. 

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