Family?

I went to an Alde Valley Family Group Society talk the other day. The subject was DNA testing, and we heard an interesting account of how people in the room had discovered new relatives through shared DNA, and how our genetic profile can determine if we have Viking or Saxon ancestors. This was fascinating, but although tempted, I chose not to send of a saliva sample to learn more about my past.

Instead I posted this photo, which my grandmother had kept, although she’s not one of the two ladies featured, onto a Tiptree local history Facebook page to see if anyone could identify them. Within an hour, I found myself exchanging messages with a cousin of my late mother. I realised that when looking into my family tree, I’d always overlooked siblings, so while I have no cousins, my parents had quite a few.

Each of my parents had a brother, but rarely saw them. I haven’t spoken with my siblings in years, and my son and daughter do not keep in touch either. Some families are close and share their lives, but that has never been the case in my family. Why then would I break the tradition and dig out distant relatives?