.........In real life, when one meets a large family, with all its ramifications of uncles, aunts, and cousins, as well as grandfathers and grandmothers, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, their friends, servants and pet animals, it takes time to distinguish them;one does not expect to remember straight away that it is Jane who is married to Bertram, ...Aunty Margaret who had the unfortunate love affair. One has to get to know them........
Taken from the preface of China Court by Rumer Godden.
I think a lot people reach a point in their life when learning about their family tree becomes a fascinating pursuit. Names become just names that fade into the distance with no face to place them with and no story to tell. Current members are not appreciated because of how they have turned out to be but once their history is unfolded, we listen in rapture to the life they had lived and the people they once were. We are captivated by their stories of unknown distant family members and old family friends. Old photos are dug up, and viewed with wonder, carefully preserved, sorted and labelled.
Past stories may be big regrets or mundane, but definitely no one can be so insignificant as to not deserve a book written in honour of his/her family. We all have interesting stories to tell.
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