Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Keeps You From Doing Genealogy?

I find this week's topic for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun somewhat ironic, because the main thing that has been keeping me from doing genealogy in general is pretty much the same thing that has been keeping me from posting on my blog, including for Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission:  Impossible! music here), is:

1.  What keeps rou from doing genealogy?  What real-life activity do you have to do, or like to do, that takes time away from genealogy research?

2.  Write your own blog post, or add your response as a comment to this blog post or in a Facebook Status post or note.

My thoughts on the subject:

The primary thing that has been keeping my from genealogy during the past three to four years or so is my health.  While I absolutely love living in the Portland area, having moved here from Oakland, California in 2017, I have had an unfortunate series of health events that have prevented me from doing everything I want and need to do.  Most of them are resolved now, and I am hoping that I will regain my strength and really be able to start catching up.

That said, the other activity that I love to do that sometimes might take away from genealogy voluntarily is spending time with my grandchildren and other family members.  One of the wonderful benefits of having moved here is that all five of my grandchildren are within easy driving distance.  I admit that I take every opportunity I can to visit them.

I do have a few favorite things to watch on television that take up about ten hours a week:  the nightly news and weather forecast, Chopped!, Name That Tune (notwithstanding the constant mugging from Jane), and The Masked Singer.  I actually watch much less TV now than I did in California.

And, like Randy, my body does need sleep every night, although I usually get about 6 hours.

What Is "Family?"

Xiaoming's search for her Jewish ancestor opens the door to broader definitions of "family" than those that are strictly defined by genes.  Based on the information from her mother's DNA test, this elusive great-great-grandfather may not have been a blood relation.  Most people I know also have some relationships that are not so easily categorized.

Sometimes it strikes me that I am so involved with family history when I'm not married and don't have a partner or any children.  Though I have no children of my own, I have two not-quite-stepsons I love dearly.  I'm not only researching their father's family, but also their mother's.  (I'm totally nondiscriminatory when it comes to genealogy!)

I have a half-sister, from my father's first marriage, whom I adore.  I also knew and was friendly with my sister's mother, and I research her family for my sister.

I'm very close to my aunt, who married my mother's brother.  I've done a lot of work on her family history and have shared the information with her sisters, both of whom I know.  One of her sisters asked if I would be willing to research her husband's family.  Of course I said yes.  So my extended family has extended even further.

I consider all of these people to be part of my family, and I include them in my ever-growing family tree.  My point is that "family" is a flexible word, which different people define in different ways, and almost everyone has people in their family who don't fit the normal mold.  That doesn't mean that they aren't important, or that they don't belong.  And if they belong, then they can be documented and researched, and they have a legitimate place within the family tree along with everyone else.