Very recently my wife and I each received, from our respective families, documented evidence of our family trees. This reminded me, again, of the importance of family in our lives and in the life of our soon-to-be-born son.
The first came from my Aunt who had literally purchased a computer for the purpose of creating a digital scrapbook of the family tree from my father’s parents to the present day. This would be the new technology version. While the scrapbook was created and completed on a computer it looks every bit like a scrapbook with framed and unframed photos layered on top of “textured” backgrounds and unique fonts all somewhat off kilter.
The second came from my facebooking grandmother-in-law who sent a partially handwritten text version of a family tree, though her version went even further back and went from my wife’s father back in time through her own grandparents. It listed where couples met, occupations, and children. The photocopies of the originally typed pages were amended with handwriting as subsequent events would add to the tree as time went on. This is the old technology. She also included photographs of my father-in-law and my wife as younger people: babies, high school graduates, and youths. Dates and names were carefully included on the back of the photographs.
These documentary pieces of information illustrate how quickly life changes. My grandparents were once the lowest branches of a large tree, but in my aunt’s digital scrapbook places them as the roots of their own tree. This “new” tree has produced a great number of branches and it’s fair share of fruit.
Our son is an addition to that tree. A new member. Yet, at the same time my wife and I are planting roots of our own. Our son is the first branch. At any given moment you are part of a larger tree and also your own. My hope is that our tree grows beautifully and that our son feels like he has been a part of something important because he is part of something important. I hope I’m blessed with a big tree.