On Saturday, Sept 8, 2001 I arrived at work and found out that my company was closing down and moving to another state. No date as of yet was given out when I would be "official" be laid off but I did know that my production line was going to be one of the last to be laid off...My work schedule was Thursday, Friday, Saturday and every other Wednesday. My next work day was going to be Wednesday, Sept 12. I knew what the package was going to be and based on that I really wouldn't have to find work until June or July of 2002. The plan was to just to take it easy on Sunday, and really start searching for a new job on Monday, Sept. 10, 2001. I was going to call my Dad and my brother Mark on Tuesday, Sept. 11 to let them know about my job situation and what I had done to prepare. I got up as usually, on the morning of Sept. 11 and like many others my world changed. I called my brother Mark and just chatted with him about what we were seeing on the TV. I finally mentioned to him my job situation but it seemed so trivial considering what we were seeing on the TV. Tuesday's was the night that I went to Bible Study, Mondays were the night I led a confirmation class for my church. I still went to Bible study that night, which was held at my church. The group was BSF, Bible Study Fellowship which is a 7 year program, that is nondenominational but was held at my Church. Well, needless to say my Church was having a prayer service for those that were lost in the attacks, many of my BSF friends didn't attend BSF that night but went to our Prayer service. It was very comforting.
The next evening was a work day, my shift was the overnight shift. I knew it was going to be a very tense shift because we had a very wide variety of cultures that worked at our plant. I arrived and was immediately told to go to the auditorium. Wow, we were all laid off and the time frame for the closing of the plant was moved up to NOW. So now I had all this time on my hands..........
So what has this got to do with genealogy? Lots as it turns out. I took the next month just to think about lots of things and I was always watching the news. Finally around Thanksgiving I get an early Christmas present from my Aunt, the wife of my mom's only brother. You see, my mom had died suddenly in 1999 and she was the last of that generation of her family to have died. Only the spouses of my moms siblings were still alive. She had sent me a gift card with $50 on it. So it was off to the local Best Buy to spend it. I was thinking about my mom and all that she had told me about growing up during the depression, and just remembering all the stories she told me, and I knew that I wanted to start to scan all the photos that I inherited. When all of a sudden Family Tree Maker software caught my eye. So not only did I get the software, but a new desk top, new printer and a new scanner...........and I was hooked Wow, what a time I had researching what was on line and scanning all the old photos...........I think back then when you bought the most expensive version of FTM you got a year subscription to Ancestry. So between sending out my resume, going on job interviews and researching I had a very busy spring. Got a job in June with FedEx Ground, and loved having a paycheck. But I made sure I had plenty of time to research my family history.
Fast forward to now, I have had a few other jobs, including PC sup at Best Buy and lived through one of their restructuring as a full time associated in another dept. Still have my benefits and a paycheck but no longer a supervisor of a dept due to restructuring that took place in 2009. And I still make the time for my fav hobby of all researching my family history.
So, even during the termoil of that terrible day of 911 something positive came out of it, my love off genealogy.
No comments:
Post a Comment