Monday, July 10, 2006

Family Trees and Cemeteries

Over the past week I have been working on creating an architectural map of the cemetery section my synagogue owns. I was drafted / volunteered for this project based on my genealogy hobby and familiarity with cemeteries. It is actually an easy project once you can lay out the appropriate grid. How is this connected to being a DI Dad? Well it comes down again to what will the kids think of my hobby as biologicaly my ancestty is not their own.

This is not a new question and I have addressed before the concept of grafting the donor's tree onto our own. The twist here was that I was discussing with my wife my hope to have engraved on the back of my own headstone in broad terms my actual family tree noting in what other cemeteries the ancestors are buried. Sort of a directional map to where those who came before me are buried. As a genealogist I figured I wanted to leave more than a clue to my own past pretty much out in the open.

My wife thought the idea was crazy and then stated this might make the kids feel less connected to their adopted past. My response was three fold (1) yes it's a bit crazy, (2) hopefuly they will be adults when I pass, and (3) I would discuss it with them and see their reactions at a point in the future when they are old enough to fully understand.

No comments: