“Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way, Oh, what fun…”

“Have a holly, jolly Christmas, its the best time of the year.”

A cousin recognized my depression and sent the following—and “yes” it made me laugh!

1. The dumbest thing I ever bought was a 2020 planner.

2. I was so bored I called Jake from State Farm just to talk to someone.  He asked me what I was  wearing.

3. 2019:  Stay away from negative people.  2020:  Stay away from positive people.

4. The world has turned upside down.  Old folks are sneaking out of the house & their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors.

5. This morning I saw a neighbor talking to her dog.  It was obvious she thought her dog understood her.  I came into my house & told my cat.  We laughed a lot.

6. Every few days try your jeans on just to make sure they fit.  Pajamas will have you believe all is well in the kingdom.

7.   Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or should we just keep washing our hands?

8.   This virus has done what no woman has been able to do.  Cancel sports, shut down all bars & keep men at home.

9.   I never thought the comment, “I wouldn’t touch him/her with a 6-foot pole” would become a national policy, but here we are.

10.  I need to practice social-distancing from the refrigerator.

11.   I hope the weather is good tomorrow for my trip to the backyard.  I’m getting tired of the den.

12.   Appropriate analogy.  “The curve is flattening so we can start lifting restrictions now” is like saying “The parachute has slowed our rate of descent, so we can take it off now.”

13.   Never in a million years could I have imagined I would go up to a bank teller wearing a mask & asking for money.

Almost the entire daylight hours spent documenting the family, and extended family, of a fifth-cousin. In the process, I added additional information to several dozen(?) “family” already in my Ancestry database.

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Counting my blessings. I could use some good “young” days!

It warms my heart when another person takes an interest in my hobby. Yesterday I shared about receiving a message that “energized” me. Documenting my Old German Baptist Brethren families (day and night) has value. One of my publications was read, by Kristen, and prompted her communication. This morning a second message and an inquiry about “the Michael Frantz chest.”  The Internet has a copy of the story—published in 1992 in Mennonite Family History. (I don’t know for certain but that article might have been published before Kristen was born.) Evident in the story, our roots are deep and wide.

“Yours truly”  wishes to apologize for the over-use of the perpendicular pronoun. There’s a need (on my part) to convey direction to information. (How do I avoid using “I”?) My email message to Kristen directed her to the website titled Frantz Families–Kith & Kin, and Digitized Library of Family History—and Brethren Heritage Center.

Yesterday, I was “climbing the Mohler family tree.”  This morning I received a message from a Brubaker cousin so I started “climbing the Brubaker family tree.” Here I am—several hours later—and (figuratively) I’ve climbed a dozen other trees: Deaton, Denlinger, Filbrun, Fisher, Landes, Shoup, and Stoner. Round and round I go—and I find myself with Mohler. In one tree, I encountered a hornet’s nest (figuratively speaking): “Who’s the mother of the children?”  With persistent searches, I located the mother of several of my fourth cousins.

Strange title? I coined it for “solitary confinement” plus “golly.” My self imposed solitary confinement is stressful because I miss personal contact with friends and neighbors. I miss an occasional shopping trip. Golly, will we ever get back to “normal”?? Golly, how delightful (at 7:30 AM) to be greeted with the following comment on a recent blog message!

Hi Lorraine! I stumbled across your information while googling a family name. I am Lela Shoup’s granddaughter, Kristen Brubaker, from Troy, ohio. I saw you had uploaded my great grandmother Arthenas memoir, and started looking at your other posts about my family. Just wanted to say hello! I remember Grandma talking about you and doing geneology with you!

I firmly believe my Heavenly Father (God) knows how much I need encouragement. That brief message is an “energizer” when I had already planned a blog message about “ten hours in bed but got up exhausted.”