Looking back...

I can blame some of my best (or worst) traits on genetics. I'm descended from a long line of pack rats... This lovely little girl is Miss Georgia Eileen Pepper (yes, she's related to the original Dr. Pepper) She also happens to be my great great grandmother. I am blessed to have some bits and pieces that belonged to her, including the little bracelet on her wrist, which my grandmother gave me when i was five or six years old. I have proof that my love of collecting goes back to her, and to her sister, too. They collected post cards and correspondence, and kept photos as well as fabric trimmings, silk ribbon flowers, and kept the family bible up to date. They were as interested in their ancestry as I am in mine. I suppose I could probably update and use their application for the Daughters of the American Revolution as a springboard for sending in one of my own, but I think maybe Miss Georgia and Miss Alma were likely a bit more organized than I am.

Here's another photo of the girls with their mother, from the 1890's and another family picture. I wish I knew where the last one was taken.

There's something comforting about being able to touch my past...and I like the idea of safekeeping those treasured items, adding my own to the group and passing them all along someday to some other little packrat.