Goals for 2010

Reflections, Goals, and Wishes

Part II - Goals

My Goals for 2010 aren’t very ambitious. In fact they are quite simple. I just need to do them.

1. To develop an organizational system that works for me. When I first began, all those years ago, my genealogical records were the one part of my life that was completely organized. I never stopped working on it without putting everything back into its proper place. These days it seems to be scattered in various locations throughout my house. It’s not even organized chaos, it’s just simply chaos although surprisingly when I need to grab something I usually can find it right away. But as the acquired documentation continues to grow, this will not suffice.
2. To plan and actually do at least one research trip and preferably two, one for a maternal line and one for a paternal line.
3. To get up to speed on using Family Tree Maker. I’ve had it for a couple of months now. I have loaded the software onto my computer, but that’s as far as I’ve gotten.
4. To try to stay on an even keel with posting to my blogs, so that those who read them will hopefully stay interested.
5. To finally truly interview my parents, my two aunts and two uncles. Yes, I’ve asked them all tons of questions for the past 40+ years, even before I officially started researching, but like they never sat down and recorded what the grandparents, great aunts, etc. told them, I’ve never taken the time to sit down and record what they were telling me.
6. To finally meet Pat and perhaps Millie, descendants of my slave owning Hosch family. Through the years both ladies have been terrific in helping cousin Roy and me reclaim our ancestors.
7. To go to one training seminar or a national, regional or local meeting of a historical / genealogical group. As I’ve renewed the research, I’ve picked up a few more reference books to use as guides in doing my research. They are treasured additions to my limited collection but I’ve discovered that after awhile, there is no additional knowledge to be gain via this method. I don’t believe that I’m going to be able to topple present and future brick walls without training that involves more than just me reading a book.
8. And probably the most important of all, just to spend more quality time with my parents. My friends always tell me that I’m a good daughter and that I spend more time with them than most adult children spend with their parents. But for me that’s just not good enough. It’s not about just spending time with them but enjoying and partaking of life with them and it’s the later part of that, the enjoying and partaking of life with them, that I’m always feeling like I’ve fallen down on the job on.

Until Next Time!