Between the Windows: Llanafan

Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Llanafan

I research and write about Llanafan often since that's where one of my Welsh family lines comes from. Many years ago while doing research at the Oklahoma Historical Society Library - when it was in it's former lovely location - I came across a book that was just what I needed - this Topographical Dictionary of Wales, published in 1840. Golly Gee Whiz! What a find! Someone in this state must have had quite an interest in Wales in the 1960s for this to end up in the library.

How cool is that?

2010: The sun began to warm my face even before I woke up to see it. It reached across the room to my bed. My bed is a green flex-steel couch that I have been sleeping on since my husband died three years ago. I often lay there thinking before getting up to start my day.

Thinking about the depth of the sun’s reach made me think about the photos I wanted to hang on the walls and where they should go. It was obvious that they should go between the windows, where that reach wouldn’t harm them. The windows would give me a direct view to the current world; the photos between them would give me a direct view to the past.

That’s what I do for enlightenment and enjoyment – sometimes I live in the past.

Genealogy, or family history, began as a study when my son was in the 8^th grade. We were homeschoolers that year and it seemed a good way to study history. It became a passion for me but now has settled down to a frequent activity.

Through my research I have come in touch with people from the past. Often they are people of whom the memory has nearly faded away. That’s the reason I put them between the windows – to keep them from fading away entirely.

This is their story and mine.