I just looked at my last post and was shocked to see how long it had been since I've posted - 3 months. I'm not sure anyone is still out there reading the blog. I wouldn't be surprised if they stopped. But after spending a good year working on a family history book project, sometimes you just have genealogy fatigue and need to take a breather. And that's what I did.
The book - The Brennans of Ireland, Ohio and Beyond - was finished in February and I began taking orders and mailing out copies of the book as well as a CD of pictures to accompany it. I've already put in two orders from the printer - one for 70 books and one for 10. I still have a few left. Several relatives have asked me to reserve one for them, but so far I haven't received an official order from them. I'm quite proud of the book, even though as always happens, I (or a few relatives) spotted a few mistakes, although I must have edited and proofed the book dozens of times before sending it to the printer.
This was my third family history book. The first was a book on my husband's paternal side, the Croatian family. The book was professionally designed and printed, with a beautiful photograph of the island of his grandparents' birth on the cover. The second was a do-it-yourself project, a book I wrote and printed on my computer, and then had spiral bound. That book was on my husband's maternal side and included the discovery I made and confirmed several years ago that there are three Mayflower passengers in the direct line. This last book, as I've posted before, was also professionally designed (by my very talented daughter in law) and printed. It's a book I thoroughly enjoyed researching and writing because it told the story of my father's Irish side of the family. In writing it, I met many relatives I had never met before, nor even heard of. Most were in America, but a few were in Ireland.
After completing that book, however, I was exhausted and for a while, I didn't even want to deal with genealogy. So in between times when I was busy packaging and mailing off books, I tackled some long neglected projects around the house, and took a vacation to see two of my sons in Seattle. I've painted the dining room, organized my closets, had a garage sale to rid myself of unneeded possessions, and done some gardening. I'm also looking forward in June to my grandson Sean's 8th grade graduation, my granddaughter Grace's 12th birthday and my 50th high school reunion. Sometimes you just have to get away from documenting the past, and have fun with much-loved family members here and now.
I will be returning to genealogy soon, however. Even as I was finishing my Brennan family history book, I was putting together another do-it-yourself project - the history of my father's maternal side of the family - the Shaws. Once again, I will be printing it myself and having it spiral bound. This one won't be sold to the family, as I'm not in contact with any of them, with the exception of my aunt Sheila. So I will make a few for myself and my children, and my aunt, and then move on to a much larger project: the first family history book for my mother's side of the family.
This is the Schulien family, from Germany, and after having met a few family members when we were in Germany last year, I will look forward even more to getting started. And I am going to have help on this one from some very dear cousins who have some very interesting stories to tell.
Stay tuned.
