When after decades of inactivity regarding my family history I got back into genealogy last year (A.D. 2011), I got rewarded with an unexpected benefit. In researching my dead relatives I got connected or reconnected with living kinfolk. And this is a delight!

One which wasn't such a big surprise to me were two LDS first cousins who live in Hawaii. Not only are these two fellows Mormon and thus by religion into genealogy. When my Quaker-heritage paternal grandmother passed I inherited her genealogy papers, but due to my life situation my dad mailed them to one of these cousins. Now that I'm back on track he's returned some of the papers to me. When these first arrived and I looked at them I got a very eerie sensation! You see, I recognized most of them, especially the pedigree charts, even tho I hadn't seen them in something like four decades!

I had quite a trip down memory lane, you might say!

Another first cousin who actually contacted me by Facebook I initially mistook for his and my uncle (they have the same name). He lives in Pennsylvania, in an area which for many reasons I'd like to visit sometime. And now I have a more personal reason for making such a visit.

And then there are second (and third?) cousins who have come out of the woodwork -- the genealogy paperwork, that is. A couple of these on my father's side got introduced to me by the LDS cousin mentioned above (the one with Grandma's papers). But on my mother's side I've made connection with a distant cousin who lives in the same State, Tennessee. He's not far from certain rural cemeteries where some of our ancestors repose, so I'll probably actually meet him whenever I go to visit those graves.

Guess you can say I "seek the living among the dead"! LOL