Welcome to another edition of the Weekend Chat, my fellow WikiChatteres! And greetings from Cathey’s Creek Township, Transylvania County, in the Old North State.
Hurricane Dorian: Looks like Hurricane missed most of us, though as I write this our hopes of wellbeing go out to those who are still facing the possibility of destructive wind, rain, tidal surges, and electrical outages. My paramedic daughter and her fireman husband were required to stay in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. My newlywed daughter and son-in-law decided to ride it out in Charleston, South Carolina. A cousin who lives in Wilmington, North Carolina, I have not heard from. If you recall, Wilmington and all of that area of North Carolina got slammed by Hurricane Matthew.
On the Home Front: With temps hitting the low 90s, we are having to schedule our outside chores to the early morning or late evening. It doesn’t matter. I still sweat like a horse at either time, a thing I inherited from my Grandma. I remember her bending over the cantaloupe patch with sweat streaming off of her face. The ancient chair I mentioned a week or two ago is almost finished, and it took some good ol’ ingenuity and elbow grease to get in a state where we could start putting the upholstery back together (the small section we had to undo). What I’m really hoping for in the fall and winter is getting back to more hours WikiTreeing and traveling. The spring and summer chores have really cut into that. One thing I am looking forward to in November is attending the Charleston Scottish Games, my first in over 20 years.
On the Genealogy Front: I have not done much WikiTreeing this past week. My wife and I attended a funeral of a very dear friend and colleague last Saturday. Kathy Ronemus (Ronemus-7), who had only retired in May and confirmed her WikiTree account in June, was looking forward my assistance on her genealogy. We had just gotten beyond the planning phase. In any case, her death was the reason I did so little genealogy this week. I just didn’t have the emotional strength.
Kathy and I worked together for a little over three years counseling convicted felons, helping them to deal with the things in their lives that might inhibit reintegration back into society. It was tough work for these guys, and I have to admit, with Kathy taking the lead because of all of her training and expertise, I learned a lot about myself, even while just assisting her.
With her absence, the regular cadence of my life has been disrupted. How I so looked forward to working with her weekly until her retirement, and how I so looked forward to our continued friendship and collaborating with her on her genealogy, even though she was moving to South Carolina. She was what I said above, a very dear friend, and the light of this world has been dimmed with the loss of her love of all people, especially the downtrodden and struggling, the hated and feared, the brokenhearted and marginalized. I want to honor her life by living as she would have wanted me to: fearless, forging ahead, and flourishing.
As I was leaving on her last day at work, I did it right. I entered her office, closed the door, and gave her a big hug, and said, “I love you, Kathy.”
I, a WikiTreer who works earnestly honoring the dead, was reminded of the value of the living people in my circles. I am reminded to say, “I love you,” much more often. And so, I say to all of you who have greatly enriched my life since I joined WikiTree, “I love you all.” May you live fearlessly, forging ahead, and flourishing.