Fun Family Facts

I tried to track down my Mom today to wish her a happy birthday, but ended up having a great conversation with my Dad instead.

We started talking about family history and something my Dad's Nan used to say to him. I was amazed at the long hours my dad has been putting in building a wood shop and fixing up my Mom's rentals for her.  "You rest you rust" is what she would say.    I thought that was great and told him the saying I like to tell my kids when they are being lazy "a body in motion stays in motion." My kids make fun of me for saying it though because it is an arthritis commercial.

I asked my Dad to remember some more quotables from my Great Nana, so here they are:

"when you have a lot in front of you and you don't know where to start.  You start with whats in front of you and then move to the right."

"the sooner you get your work done, the sooner you get to play.  The faster you get your work done, the longer you get to play."

"I'm a straight arrow.  I shoot straight. You don't like it, it's your problem."

The only quote that I remember her saying because she would say it to me and expect a specific response was:  She would say "how does that grab you?"  to which my reply was supposed to be "like pliers"  and then she would giggle.

I like to think I got my brutally honest approach to life from my Great Nana. Hey,  I'm just shootin straight.  We talked about my Nana and I don't have any quotes from her, but I remember she loved to laugh and laugh loud.  She was so kind and loving and you knew how much she loved you just by being around her.  I like to think I got my love of laughing and smile from my Nana.

Fun facts:  My Great Nana used to work in a cigar factory.  Her husband was a miner and in fact came from a long line of miners.  He left the mines and became an electrician but he died of black lung in 1955.  His wife never remarried.  My dad has fond memories of going to baseball games with him until he was 6 and he passed away.

My dad's mom, my Nana, worked in a silk factory where she met my grandfather.  Which made perfect sense with her dream of owning a fabric store (which she did for a time) My dad was estranged from his father after their divorce.  The man my father thinks of as a father was my Nana's 4th husband Lloyd whom she married when my dad was in his 20's.  The interesting part to this is that my father is in the construction business.  Before his dad was working in a silk mill he was in the construction business until he cut off his fingers with a ban saw.  My grandfather's father did construction, his father did construction, his father built caskets and his father built ships and then caskets.  What is interesting is that my father didn't become interested in construction until his mom's 4th marriage.  He didn't realize that he literally had sawdust in his veins.  One other interesting side note is that before I knew any of this information I liked to index death certificates.  While I would contemplate the fact that one day I would have a death certificate and wonder about the person who had to sign the death certificate of their loved ones I would sing a song called "my boy builds coffins."  I come from casket makers.  This family line has been the most inspirational to me. My 3rd great grandfather, Francis (born in 1814), had a daughter named Emma and I feel very connected to her though I don't know anything about her other than she died at 24 leaving behind a husband and young son.

So there's some fun family facts that gave me a little more insight into who I am.