I've spent a good part of today looking into genealogical information. Salyers is my deceased mother's family surname and someone I know mentioned her mother had that same last name. She sent me some information and after looking at it I finally got in touch with my Aunt Linda and discussed the clues with her.
I like knowing where I came from more than where I'm headed. I am giddy some days and haunted on others because the Appalachian mountains are an intoxicant for me. I haven't been there in seven or eight years but I was born in Huntington, WV and the whispers of this grand, green place are always in my head and my heart.
I don't have a home town, per se, but a home state. As a child I was dragged from one state to another and as many schools as a military child might without being one.
My memory is terrible and it always has been, more sieve holes than a colander I say, so finding old pitures of people and places or hearing the names of those who paved the way for me makes me wistful for a past I cannot have. In a series of moves from one state to another I landed in Northwest Indiana but no place has ever felt the same.
I went to a Salyers reunion in Michigan this summer and it was great to find people who only knew the past when my mother was a girl or a young woman. The love they have for her now is palpable and she has been dead these ten years. I wasn't Sherry so much as Helen's daughter for a day. It was nice to hear folks paint a different picture for me than the one in my head.
Yesterday a picture of my mother as a teen, I think, at her school surfaced on Facebook. I had never seen it before. Today I found another picture of her and one of one of her brothers on a yearbook site. I also found another website that had info on members of my family including my grand dad who died in 2000. The info needs a bit of correcting but, mostly, it was good to see his name because it brought a flood of memories. There was a Salyers book written or compiled by Elizabeth Salyers back in the eighties or nineties and there are 2 in the family. But they are misplaced. We need to figure out where they are. Elizabeth is long dead now I expect... so is a lot of my family.
I want folks to know I was here and I want to know more about the people who came before me. Some I only knew in the Autumn or Winter of their lives. I knew my mother in the Summer and Winter of her life. Autumn came and went so quicly I think we missed it.
I wish I had taken notes at family gatherings and little visits. I have a head filled with happy and terrible stories. My family's history and mythology are important to me. I want to know more.
I made a book, upon request, for Christmas for my daughter Karen. It had stories, advice, a bit of poetry and such in it. I need to send her more. We might all consider writing and sharing our stories with our families. Even if we don't think they are listening... they might be. Leave a book or recordings as well as pictures so they can enjoy their memories of you more.
Sherry
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Saturday, August 17, 2013
Making Change Happen
Part of my days are spent slogging through unhelpful, hard to view websites or dealing with trying to find a way to read really tiny print. It's everywhere! When I find a website that is absolutely impossible to work with I make a choice, based on my own and global needs, about whether to contact the webmaster or not and ask for a change. I've had a few successes. One was with a state website for education in Indiana. I got a fix and a lightning fast response so now the command CTRL with + and - works just fine.
I had a great deal of difficulty reading and exploring Kim Komando's website for computer tips. I wrote her an email telling her that her site was barely usable by the visually impaired and unsubscribed from all of her emails and it made me sad. I revisited a few months ago and the site is much improved. Did I have an influence? I'd like to think so.
I've found many people don't like making accommodations for others as a rule. I minimize the business I do with those who are unresponsive to requests for help. I have contacted my local Lion's Club and received one perfunctory email back and that was it. Here, in my community, that org is a dud. And that's a shame because the building is about 2 blocks from my home and in charge of local recycling. "That" is something it does well. Sigh...
My village was hit hard economically and divested it's responsibility to move people onto another township. There is no near public transportation for walkers. I contacted someone in charge of authorizing such services and was redirected to a sister township to find out what was available in the way of transportation.
I found that medical transportation on a very limited basis was offered and mostly to Chicago. Through a series of conversations with several people who had the power to make decisions service was extended to cover trips to the grocery store, the library and a few other places. However the service hours have been so limited (unavailable on weekend) and have to be scheduled so far in advance they aren't terribly helpful most of the time. I will take credit for getting those services for others in my village who had just accepted the status quo.
Taking it further I found that the village now offers a "program list" that is maintained on the village website and it details services available to the disabled and elderly. That is something new... having it all spelled out for folks to read and know about. Wait times are longer and the hours aren't improved but, perhaps, that will change in the future.
I feel good knowing I made that happen.
Sherry
I had a great deal of difficulty reading and exploring Kim Komando's website for computer tips. I wrote her an email telling her that her site was barely usable by the visually impaired and unsubscribed from all of her emails and it made me sad. I revisited a few months ago and the site is much improved. Did I have an influence? I'd like to think so.
I've found many people don't like making accommodations for others as a rule. I minimize the business I do with those who are unresponsive to requests for help. I have contacted my local Lion's Club and received one perfunctory email back and that was it. Here, in my community, that org is a dud. And that's a shame because the building is about 2 blocks from my home and in charge of local recycling. "That" is something it does well. Sigh...
My village was hit hard economically and divested it's responsibility to move people onto another township. There is no near public transportation for walkers. I contacted someone in charge of authorizing such services and was redirected to a sister township to find out what was available in the way of transportation.
I found that medical transportation on a very limited basis was offered and mostly to Chicago. Through a series of conversations with several people who had the power to make decisions service was extended to cover trips to the grocery store, the library and a few other places. However the service hours have been so limited (unavailable on weekend) and have to be scheduled so far in advance they aren't terribly helpful most of the time. I will take credit for getting those services for others in my village who had just accepted the status quo.
Taking it further I found that the village now offers a "program list" that is maintained on the village website and it details services available to the disabled and elderly. That is something new... having it all spelled out for folks to read and know about. Wait times are longer and the hours aren't improved but, perhaps, that will change in the future.
I feel good knowing I made that happen.
Sherry
Life
Life has evolved into something much different than it was even two years ago. This last year has been very challenging between dealing with vision loss and nearly dying at the end of March. It's a long story and maybe I'll share a bit of it as I go along here.
My main thoughts, in the last year, have dealt with how to find purpose in life. I lost my job almost a year and a half ago and the practical effects of dealing with vision loss keep me from getting to places I want to go. I deal but it's tough when life has been filled with work, volunteering, family and it all fades away.
My life revolves around loss. It always has, looking back, but it's different now. It's more profound.
I spend my time learning about the gods that tap me on the shoulder or whisper in my ear. I clean my home to the best of my abilities. I talk to people on the Internet. It doesn't feel like a good enough reason to exist in comparison to what others do so I've mostly sworn off comparing myself to others. That's a zero sum game anyways.
I'm dealing with a uterine cancer scare and I lost six or seven weeks of the summer to an incredible malaise and fever. Given the testing that's been done, and not, I think I survived an encounter with a sneaky virus...perhaps West Nile. It was found in my community a couple months after I became ill. I was tested for Lyme and other things but I strongly suspect that I encountered a deadly mosquito just before Father's Day.
I feel good now. Energy level is great. Never underestimate the power of the body to heal itself. I've also become more interested in the uses of and effects of herbs as I've spent many hours researching a good dozen of them. I've started taking five in the last month. There are many things doctors either don't know or don't have time to tell patients about including their biases.
I've encountered several doctors this year who are near blatant about their fat phobias. I need surgery but won't be getting it from two of the fine members of the medical community due to my weight. Substandard treatment options are the passing norm for fat patients. I've been so tired this summer due to illness that I sort of gave up or just accepted the status quo in regards to finding better doctors. I, however, am looking now. My backup plan for now, having failed a medication that drove me nearly insane, is to continue to lose weight. I'm down about 20 pounds.
I hear the summer is over but it's not. My life, and the turn of the seasons, is not dictated by marketing. It's too bad that it does drive most people. There was a year that I didn't really go into stores, perhaps 2006, and I didn't say goodbye to summer until October because the weather was so nice.
This blog will have rambles about things that are important to me. I have another blog I neglect that is more health care oriented.
Sherry
My main thoughts, in the last year, have dealt with how to find purpose in life. I lost my job almost a year and a half ago and the practical effects of dealing with vision loss keep me from getting to places I want to go. I deal but it's tough when life has been filled with work, volunteering, family and it all fades away.
My life revolves around loss. It always has, looking back, but it's different now. It's more profound.
I spend my time learning about the gods that tap me on the shoulder or whisper in my ear. I clean my home to the best of my abilities. I talk to people on the Internet. It doesn't feel like a good enough reason to exist in comparison to what others do so I've mostly sworn off comparing myself to others. That's a zero sum game anyways.
I'm dealing with a uterine cancer scare and I lost six or seven weeks of the summer to an incredible malaise and fever. Given the testing that's been done, and not, I think I survived an encounter with a sneaky virus...perhaps West Nile. It was found in my community a couple months after I became ill. I was tested for Lyme and other things but I strongly suspect that I encountered a deadly mosquito just before Father's Day.
I feel good now. Energy level is great. Never underestimate the power of the body to heal itself. I've also become more interested in the uses of and effects of herbs as I've spent many hours researching a good dozen of them. I've started taking five in the last month. There are many things doctors either don't know or don't have time to tell patients about including their biases.
I've encountered several doctors this year who are near blatant about their fat phobias. I need surgery but won't be getting it from two of the fine members of the medical community due to my weight. Substandard treatment options are the passing norm for fat patients. I've been so tired this summer due to illness that I sort of gave up or just accepted the status quo in regards to finding better doctors. I, however, am looking now. My backup plan for now, having failed a medication that drove me nearly insane, is to continue to lose weight. I'm down about 20 pounds.
I hear the summer is over but it's not. My life, and the turn of the seasons, is not dictated by marketing. It's too bad that it does drive most people. There was a year that I didn't really go into stores, perhaps 2006, and I didn't say goodbye to summer until October because the weather was so nice.
This blog will have rambles about things that are important to me. I have another blog I neglect that is more health care oriented.
Sherry
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