Crazy cool connections

December 06, 2017

There is no joy as sweet as the victory after a lot of struggle.
My first child was born in 1991. My dear maternal Grandmother died in 1992. Since then I have been very interested in my family tree going forwards and backwards in time. I have wondered and wondered. By then I lived in a different country from where I began, and from where my family tree roots are supposed to be. I was living in the United States of America. My Grandma Szpradowski was the first generation to be Canadian in her family. I am the first generation on my paternal side to be Canadian. My children are first generation Americans on my side of the tree.
My Dad's side of the tree is Danish, I was happy he spoke English. He (Knud) sent me some records, but they were in Danish so I couldn't read them. He has been living in Denmark since I was 12 years old, so even calling him was a huge expense for me. He would tell me things, and I would write them down. Then I would forget where I wrote them. Then we would talk again in a couple of years. I moved around a lot.
My Mom's side of the tree is Polish. All I knew is that somewhere in storage my Mom had some pictures and papers. But she had moved to Costa Rica, and I had moved to the U.S. So about 30 years later I finally grabbed some boxes of pictures from her storage back in Canada. I've been swimming in pictures for the last 2 weeks. It's been amazing.
I've learned about a maternal Great Aunt who was a nun, and was put in a "lunatic asylum" for 30 years, then she returned back to her original monastery at the age of 65 and stayed there until she died at age 83. After she got back from the institution they found she had an inoperable growth in her brain. Wow.
Yesterday I found pictures from when my Grandma Szpradowski took a trip to Poland in 1985. I was 15 at the time, and living with her to go to a certain school near her. If she tried to tell me about her trip, I don't remember a word of it. I was much more interested in other 15 year olds. I also have a very bad memory recall. I found a picture of her sitting in Warsaw with a statue behind her. And I recognized the statue! I looked at my trip pictures this morning, and sure enough. I have a picture of the same statue from the same angle that I took 32 years later when I went to Poland this summer.
How crazy is that? And I have a tiny trip journal with tiny writing that I'm about to read, that she wrote back then. I just have to figure out how to read it. It's in English, thank goodness. Which is Grandma's second language. English was not the first language for any of my Grandparents. Only my Polish Grandparents learned English.
I can't wait to see what other surprises are waiting for me. I have hundreds of old photos to go through. Some have writing on the back, some don't. They aren't in any kind of order. I tell you what, I've never been so thankful for big noses and ears that really stick out. It helps me determine if I am related or not! My Grandfather was a handsome devil, and his ears stood out. So I can find him in pictures. My Grandmother and some of her sisters had decent sized noses, bless their hearts. This is very helpful to me.
If you have parents or family members or old journals, I would encourage you to act now and to ask now. To ask questions and find connections. It's a lot of fun. I have papers, pictures, newspaper articles, letters, and it's all very exciting to put it all together like a puzzle with very big pieces. It's a different kind of exploring than the kind where I go to a mountain or get on a plane. It's exploring the past. The oldest date I've found on a picture so far is 1929.
I love my Grandma very much. She was a big part of my life. She was there for all the hugs I ever needed, and made meals for me all those years I lived with her. I cherish these pictures because I adore my Canadian Polish Grandma.