This is the line that really has me strung out! |
Despite our frequent warnings, this
past week my wife and I had a friend of ours finally take the plunge and get
onto ancestry.com. Since then we have noticed a significant increase in their
time spent online sometimes going well past midnight. Of course, this is one of
the early warning signs and my wife finally got to the point that she had to
ask the question that was also floating around in the empty space of my mind, “Are
you getting too addicted already?!?!”
We ask because we are and, if need
be, we will have an intervention. We know the signs all too well and we know
the constant pull that the website has during all hours of the day and night.
We are Ancestry Addicts and we are proud of it.
Unfortunately, I don’t think our friend
really knows what they are getting themselves into. It starts with a small hit
and a high that is just enough to make you want more. Soon it is never enough
and you are spending hours at a time on the computer without even knowing it.
One night you get on for a quick search at 10:00 PM and before you know it the
light peers through the blinds and it’s time for breakfast.
And, if that wasn’t bad enough, it
gets worse. Soon your reaching out to relatives you haven’t spoken to in years
grilling them for more details about a cousin you just discovered or an Aunt
that caused a ruckus in her neighborhood in 1924 because she didn’t care for
the art deco designs. That’s when you find that only an addict knows how to
satisfy and addict. The rest of the world doesn’t care if your great great grand
pappy had the grandest outhouse in the county and before you started chasing
the genealogical dragon you didn’t care either.
There really is no end to the vicious
cycle of research and discovery and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am a
heritage hoarder and an ancestry addict and I’m darn proud of that fact. I am
finding out who I am by finding the people that made my family what it is
today. I will continue to search and I will always look for new places to
explore. And while I am looking elsewhere I will continue to return to the tree
and, occasionally, partake in some of the good stuff, the easy highs, that come
about when a new leaf appears and taunts me with its shimmy.
Yeah, I have problems but I can’t
stop to think about that now, I have more work to do and files to organize. So
while I’m gone feel free to comment and let me know of any good Ancestry
Anonymous groups that might be out there. It’s always better when you get high
with others.
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