The wisdom (and awesomeness) of the “Old”

I am blogging offline as I am currently in the world of NO wireless internet. Not even protected signals. Nothing. Makes life a little simpler. I read about the Catholics seeking out a tech-less Lent. Instead of Lent merely being a time of bodily fasting, it is a time to get away from all things high tech (or perhaps even low tech??). So here I am, lenting. :)

In other news, my grandma is amazing. Just thought you all should know that. She and I reorganized her entire desk area this evening and restored it to a former organized glory. Hallelujah! I, for one, cannot work on a messy desk. So... we cleaned. We tossed away an entire gift bags worth of random papers (mostly irrelevant manuals to things she no longer owned). It was a cleansing process... and quite fun. Well, at least it was for me. Poor Grandma, though. I just kept asking “Do you need this?” “Do you still want this?” “Can I throw this away?” Sometimes she would sigh, squint, and reach for it to more closely examine said piece of paper. Other times, she would glance and quickly respond, “Nope.” Other times, I simply decided for her and saved her the energy.

It was also somewhat of a treasure hunt. I found a journal/pocket book thing from John Barker Bradley. At first, I kept asking, “Who's J. B. Bradley??! There are no Joseph B. anythings in our family. Then I recalled my hours spent over the family tree on Geni yesterday... and the name JOHN instead of Joseph. This merely indicates (on the Bradley branch of the tree) that he was not a first born son. If you were named Joe, you were the first born. If you had a name like John or William... well, you weren't the first born son. Sucks for you.

Anywho... Grandma had been given some of his things! That's from back in the 1850's, friends. This is some fabulously old stuff. So, I'm pretty thrilled to have that on loan from Grandma. We agreed we need to keep it in some plastic and try to protect it from the elements (since we can't protect it from time, per se...). On top of that, my Aunt B loaned me the file folder of stuff SHE had on the family history. QUITE fun. Not sure why this genealogy interest has finally come up and hit me in the face (as I've been interested in it for a while without the passion or drive to follow through).

...but I love it. I love the history. The names (a girls name I'm now claiming is Hannah Bradley) are fabulous and I want to see how they all connect. Some Joseph back in the 1600's was married to a Sarah Hutchinson from Massachusetts and I wonder if that has anthing to do with hocus pocus kind of things (incidentally, I watched that movie on TV today). There was a marriage to a Mary Williams way back when as well and I think it would be deliciously funny if the Bradleys and Williams were connected long before my brother and I came along.

Curious...

So I'm having fun with Grandma and my lenten fast from the internet (well, sort of... we got her computer and printer up and running and I at least logged on to my email and The West to check on things – so sad that I really am addicted!). Until next time, I remain your humble 1L.