Since most of my family lived away from the roost for work and such, the family time was far and few between, but when we all were in the same place good times were sure to be had!
My grandparents would travel to visit, often bringing my brother and I to various locales to to and see our cousins and Aunt and Uncles which was always fun and exciting as well, but there was nothing like those times when we were all at Gram's in Lanesborough ~ the goodies she would make! The love and laughter was everywhere!
We cousins all together ~ maybe a handful of times over my life ~ one of the rare times at Grams on the porch I can still feel the love and pride of being a part of this family! This is where I get the true meaning and value of family from ~ Gram and Pop for sure they instilled that in us. Since they have been gone the connection has been severed a bit, but due to the Internet I can still be reminded of it ~ despite not having any real connections anymore!
My Poppie as we called him was adopted when he was a child, and just last week I obtained from one of my cousins, his Birth last name. Before he died more than a few years ago, his siblings who were not adopted out contacted him but he did not want to meet them.
This makes me sad. I for one can understand the way my Poppie felt. The pain and the loss and the sense of abandonment must have been very difficult for him to comprehend at such a late stage in his life, hell, throughout his entire life ~ I am sure!
I think part of the reason that I decided, after going through steps to put my first born son up for adoption (and changed my mind thankfully) when I found myself pregnant at 17 had a lot to do with the fact that my Pops was adopted. Not wanting to put a child through those feelings later in life.
I have done oodles of research on my Granma's Mother's family who came over from the Azores in the 1700's trying to (and succeeding once or twice) in connecting with long lost relatives and have a huge desire to go to the Azores as you all know if you have been following along with my blog, as I get a sense of "home" from the pictures which I see of the Islands.
The same rings true with my Grandfather ~ despite his not being curious about his long lost family ~ whom I am sure struggled with the decision in the early 1900's in giving him up, be it for financial reasons or other such reasons (not easy as a mother to not be around your child for any reason and to have to give one up??? Worse than death I would think!)
Regardless, this is one Gallant who would like to know more about the Paczek family who are related (if anyone is alive who has this family history) and can remember then I for one would love a line dropped to me. My email as always is GClawdia@aol.com and if by some minuscule chance you or someone you know who reads this has information ~ do not hesitate to drop me a line! Life is too short and family is too important (something I learn more and more each day as I head toward my middle age.
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