Happy Heavenly Birthday, Kenny!

I cannot believe that I am the mother of 39 year old! My first born son, Kenny, will celebrate his 39th birthday in heaven today. It's hard to believe that it was 19 years ago we celebrated his last birthday together. 

I had hoped that over the last 19 years that Kenny's birthday would cause me less heartache. In the last few years remembering Kenny has become easier but I am still heartbroken that he is not here to celebraten with his family and friends, that he never had the chance to find his other half and have a family of his own. He's didn't get to know his wonderful sister in love, better or to know his adorable nephews. 

Happy Heavenly 39th Birthday, Kenny! I love you with all my heart and miss you!

Just a few pictures from different stages in Kenny's life. My favorite is the one below from my sister's wedding a few months before Kenny passed away. It has both of my sons and my Dad in the background. 

  ©2019, Dawn M. Kogutkiewicz, genealogical researcher and writer of Dawning Genealogy. All rights reserved.

What Happened in 2018

To say that 2018 was difficult feels like an understatement. I have not written a post since early February 2018 and one of the reasons for this is because I lost my Dad on 23 February 2018. It was totally unexpected and devastating not only to me but my entire family. My Dad died as our family was heading to Florida for another beloved member of our family, my Uncle Jim who had lost his short and valiant fight with ALS 11 days earlier.

My Dad on the right and my Uncle Jim on the left. 

Since my Dad's death I have had writer's block. I can't even bring myself to enter my Dad's death in my genealogy database. I expected to have problems writing in the immediate aftermath of my Dad's death and funeral services. First it was a month and then two and now here it is nearly 11 months later and I am still at a loss for words. 

Since I could not write about my family I turned to working DNA matches. First for my cousin Ben who has been my closest match since 2013. We connect through my maternal line of Baugh. Turns out my grandfather and his father were brothers, making us 2nd cousins. This past spring, Ben had a close family match and they were able to help Ben even further.

By early summer I still couldn't write. So I started working my Dad's matches at FamilyTreeDNA and so far he has no matches closer than third cousins and none of them help with my brick wall of my third great grandfather, William H. Williams. He is definitely driving me crazy with no records after 17 June 1880 which is the 1880 census. 

Fall arrived and still I couldn't write. Now it's January 2019 and I am still having trouble writing. I have written and deleted this post at 10 times since I started writing it on New Year's Day. I am not going to make any promise's or goals for 2019 genealogy wise. I will be happy if I can just manage one post a month to help me get back into writing. Maybe I just need to set aside my Dad's line for awhile and work on my Mom's especially now that my Uncle has done a DNA test! The one thing I do know is that I really need to learn some of the new third party tools that I am hearing about. 

I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year!

Take care,

Dawn

© 2019, copyright Dawn M. Kogutkiewicz. All rights reserved.