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.

                                                                                                          Author Unknown