Kathy, Love it when a story finishes. Hate it when a story finishes. Conflicted much? Yeah, but there are more to finish --- HINT! This is just one of those stories you want to grab an old quilt and a cup of hot chocolate and cuddle down to read - only problem it was 100 degrees to day so the quilt has to go or the electric bill goes out the roof because of maxing out the air conditioning. This is just one of those 'comfort stories' sort of like bread pudding being a comfort food. Thanks so much. Love it, is just enough of a change of pace for your stories.
"The kids all complain of having to compare genealogies just to make sure they aren’t dating a close cousin of some type."
Made me laugh - I claim that is the reason I had to leave my home town, the only guys anywhere near my age who weren't 'cousins' had webbed feet or their species was highly suspect, from the other township family. And THIS was in Michigan! Things like that happen when a small town is just far enough from any of the other towns, it was not convenient to travel 150 years ago. Maybe that is the real reason the one church had a 'Church Fight' and the town split down the middle with several generations not speaking let alone not marryin' for many score of years -- early genetic diversity?
Actually after I started doing genealogy in high school, I had to tell my parents they were 5th cousins 4 times removed or some such. That became the big family secret - I think we may be the only ones who knew, though my parents thought it was a hoot. They grew up on opposite sides of the county. My Baptist preacher grandfather would have had a coronary if he had found out - you see, the other side of the family cousins of my folks were DEMOCRATS!
DM
ETA: I will know if anyone of the old families are members here from the emails and FB messages I will be getting and the mushroom cloud on TB's home page doubling in size! BTY it is Brooklyn, Michigan. One is supposed to keep such dark secrets and take them to your grave.
Sorry for the Hi-Jack, just meant to say Thank you for the story - but now you know why I love this story, it brought back such good memories.
DM