I wrote this reflective piece on 12 February 2022
The Way Back
Machine
As an avid genealogist, I find myself going way back in
time. Accessing things on the internet has been an amazing new twist as a
family historian. My past and the history of our nation are closely interwoven.
As I was researching the Quillin family, I came across a website named, The Way
Back Machine. This title gave me pause
to reflect on my journey as a historian.
Many times, I feel that I am thrown into my memory bank and it’s as if I’m
spinning, recalling, reliving the past trying to remember what was said or
seen. And when I interview people, I see their minds working and using ‘The Way
Back Machine’. This can be a peaceful place with the calmness of happy times,
the sound of laughter, the sense of joy in accomplishments that were achieved,
and the love given and received from family members. Yet sometimes this machine
spins us into a turbulent, scary, haunting place.
I will start with the peaceful places that this journey has
taken me. Wherever my mother was was a peaceful place, a place of comfort,
strength, wisdom, and the ability to think through the troubling aspects of life.
I can visualize the places that we went together, the times that we spent
together and the some of the words that were spoken. I visualize the time that
I spent in her home. Any given day may pop into my memory and I can relive the
source of comfort I found in just being with her. My childhood home was a place
of comfort and I have so many delightful memories of my childhood.
And just like that, with a snap of the finger, my ‘way back
machine’ can become turbulent, twisting and turning and swirling me about with
various emotions. Life was not always perfect. There were times that were
hurtful and many of the memories bring about deep emotions. They get stuck in
my mind and it is hard to break the chains that warp the memory of the good
times.
An analogy of this turbulent world would be like life as a
bird. What would life be like without the beautiful birds and their birdsongs?
Just being in nature and observing and listening to them brings joy and peace to
my soul. There is beauty in each bird and as I know from the Bible, His eye is
on the sparrow. But on any given day, that bird may face a turbulent windstorm,
being tossed about until it can find a place of shelter. And just like that,
the storm clears, the sun comes out and the bird sings again and the cycle
starts all over again. But what have we learned in the process?
With these storms and trials of life, we gather our
fortitude, draw upon our knowledge and experiences. We become stronger to forge
ahead. It’s not easy. All I have to do is take a look back at my ancestors,
their trials and tribulations, and I know that I am not alone. We all have
times in the storm, but we choose to rise above and sing sweetly in the light
of a new dawn.
