Welcome: Lifestyle Meets Genealogy

Welcome to my Dialogue! One hidden fact about me is that my family has deemed me “The Historian”. I’ve never considered myself such, I just do what I LOVE to do; bring families together. When I’m frequently asked about my “Why’s”, my answer is simple, My kids! When I’m dead and gone, I want my kids to continue knowing their cousins near and far, and bonding like we used to. I tell everyone, I come from a highly dysfunctional family on BOTH sides and it’s up to me to fix or help mend the hurt. Yes, it’s a big job for one person, but if not me? Then Who? I often tell myself that God was waiting on me to be born to heal my family. I had a maternal Great-Grandfather, Robert L. Rich Sr., who used to bring the family together and make sure everyone knew each other. My Great-grandfather died the November before I was born. In my mind, he was passing the baton on to me.

Robert L. Rich Sr. 1903-1984

It’s been a Long time coming!!!! To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t even sure if this was the direction that I wanted to go. I began fondling with the idea of writing a book about my family history and all of the research and cool stories that I came across during COVID. I’m sure the WHOLE world thought they would create thousand of businesses, write 15 novels and above, all while the world was shut down. I never thought of writing a blog. I did reserve my web domain 3 years ago and ever since, I’ve been paying the monthly bill, just for it to sit there. #OnlyInGodsTime. I think my biggest fear is that of being “judged” or some family members feeling like “I’m telling their business”. For those reasons alone, I stayed away from the mere thought. It’s true, Fear can be paralyzing.

First and Foremost, my stance IS and will ALWAYS BE, “It’s not slander if it’s the truth!” Period. I do know for a fact that some truths are hard to swallow and process so most people stay away from it because Denial is comfortable and Acceptance is Hard. Second, at the end of the day, it’s MY Story, MY Journey, and no one else’s. Yeah, they are or could be characters in my movie BUT I am the protagonist. It’s my story from my point of view and feelings. I understand that no matter my stance, some will STILL try and make it all about them and whine on and on about me exposing THEIR business. Well, guess what?! It ain’t that kind of party and Sorry, I can’t be Sorry. I Must Unapologetically tell MY story. I practice Transparency, the lack of my knowledge and the fact that I’m still learning is very important for me to share, no matter where you are in your research, just start.

I’ve officially been doing family research for 18 years now. Looking for family and living relatives. I often beg the question, “Do you “REALLY” know where you come from?” “Can you identify anyone past your grandparents?” Most people can’t and that’s the unfortunate truth. Especially in the African American Community, some don’t know and the rest just don’t care.

I wish people would care. They don’t know that they NEED to care, until they need to care. So many babies are being born with genetic problems and a lot has to do with Cousins or close relatives having babies with their own cousins. I Digress.

 I used to subscribe to Ancestry monthly so I could have the convenience of “unsubscribing” when research began to take over my life. Believe me you, it’s VERY addictive, especially chasing that next high, that next surname, or that Dead end roadblock that you’ve been stuck on for 10 years. I wouldn’t really consider myself a hardcore researcher, I’m just modestly here. I enjoy adding names and relationships to my tree. I promise in the future, I will take my research to the next level. As of now, I enjoy finding new relatives and connecting the dots for those that don’t have a clue but would like to find one. Hey look at there, I suppose Pun intended, lol.