Things change ever so suddenly.

A week ago I was working on a post about Mothers Day. I wanted to include the fact that we should not only honor our mothers, but also all our grandmothers who survived childbirth so we could all be here today. I wanted to say something about our pioneer women ancestors who crossed the oceans, the mountains, the deserts, and wilderness in order to make new homes and better lives for their families. And then I remembered that my own mother passed away on Mothers Day. So I got up and walked outside. At that point in my day last Sunday my husband had a heart attack and later passed away in the emergency room.

Now my focus is on all those death certificates we collect. The cause of death of our ancestors is an important fact that many genealogists ignore because it doesn't give us a date or a name. But, it could save your life. It could give you a head start, a head's up, on a medical condition that runs in your family. So I am encouraging you to set aside a period of time this week, get out all those death certificates you have, and see what runs in you family. Then pass this information on to the younger members of your family.