Our Story

My older brother, Steve, has always been the family historian.  After Mom and Dad died and after I retired, I suddenly became interested in Our Story.  Maybe it's the loss of family members and missing their voices that opened me to wondering about Stories Remembered and Stories Untold.

Ancestry.com became a tool to reconstruct our family tree with its many branches.  I have been transported from the Midwest states of Iowa, South Dakota, and Missouri to French Canadian Quebec cities and towns... and back to Gascony, France.

Do you have family stories untold?
(Photo:  My Maternal Great-Grandmother - Larry Gardepie)

Dates and photos weren't enough, though.  I wondered what my forebearers were thinking and feeling:  Why move so far away from family?  What did they find in their new countries?  How did they survive when local people didn't accept them?

So I turned to the family historian!  He had documented the stories by interviewing those relatives now gone.  He listened and remembered.

Steve and I have gotten together several times in the past few months:  talking, listening, going through Boxes of Memories.

What decisions have affected others?
(Photo: My Paternal Grandfather - Larry Gardepie)

I discovered stories of affairs that ended in divorce, a father leaving his young family, rich farm land being auctioned because the brother could not be found.  And there were stories of love, caring, and kindness -- families helping others, welcoming strangers, and working together.

I am sure we all have stories hidden away, waiting to be retold, listened to and passed along.  Stories define us as a family, a neighborhood, a town, and a country.

How do you define family?
(Photo:  My father as a baby with his parents
and siblings - Larry Gardepie

These ancestral reflections have become especially poignant during this Lenten season, Passover remembrance, Holy Week journey, and Easter promise.  That is, daily disturbances challenge our shared American Story as:

• Religious freedom morphs into the domination of one religion's views.
• The images of Melting Pot, Tapestry, and Mosaic transform the strengths found in our diversity into hatred and expulsion.
• The Rule of Law becomes a mockery as Justice is no longer blind.
  

As we move forward in the weeks ahead, though, let us remember what is good about our Shared Story:  the Common Good... Good Will toward All...  Respect and Consideration of Others.

Let us bring to life the Story of Us -- All of Us -- and remember who we are... together.

After all, my story isn't complete without you!

Larry Gardepie

Dialogue San Diego Consulting