Party at Bill's

Today Bill and Myrline invited 19 people to their home, many of whom had either never met or haven't seen each other in years. It was cool to sit back and watch and Bill seemed to be extremely happy to have us all in one place. His older sister, Mildred, the one who started all of this by answering her phone the night I called, came down from Mooresville and brought some photos and stories along...

Here's Mildred and Bill in 1927...
And today...
Here's the group we assembled on the stairs...During the party, I shared the PowerPoint I created connecting me and Bill via my grandfather and Bill's dad and how we all tie back to Hope Mills. It was cool to share some of the fruits of this work with Bill and the family. We projected it up on a huge wall in their living room and everyone sat quietly as I shared what I knew. It felt like I was giving a lecture to a group of students except that this group clapped at the end and thanked me for my work. From what I recall, that doesn't happen very often in the classroom. Their thankfulness and happiness made all of the work I, Don, Joni, Janet, Wanda, Walter, and all who came before me, worth it. I'm just happy to be a part of it all and to help make the connections. In fact, Bill and Myrline want to pay me for my research, which I find humorous. On second thought, I wonder if there's a way to turn this into a full-time job...
This has been a pretty awesome weekend between the road trip to Hope Mills, today's reunion-like festivities (complete with the southern cooking) and tonight's nightcap of apple pie. It's been cool to get the opportunity to meet Bill and the rest of the new cousins. Now I just have to figure out a way to remember all of their names. My A.D.D. is not conducive to such things.