The theme for Week 52 is "Resolution." This time of year, many of us make plans for what we want to accomplish. Do you have a genealogy resolution -- maybe a brick wall you want to break through or a collection of letters you want to digitize? Register for 2025’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.
Some people call them “Resolutions”, I like using the term goals. Actually, there isn’t much difference between a resolution and a goal. A resolution is making a firm decision to do something while a goal is the object of a person’s desired result. So I guess a goal comes first and then we make a resolution to do it?
Anyway, I looked back on what I wrote about my Goals for 2024. I had five basic goals:
· Participate in the 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks – achieved
· Do a daily genealogy tip post on my other blog “Out on a Limb Genealogy” – achieved
· Finish the Jones Book for my sister-in-law’s cousin – achieved
· Continue the Goodwin Descendant Project – achieved
· Clean up my paper files – not achieved
I did not achieve my last goal because let’s be honest, it’s boring. However, this past year has been a rough one for my personal life. My sister-in-law was diagnosed with Stage IV Bone Cancer on January 17th and lost her battle on July 8th. Also, one of my intellectually disabled sisters was diagnosed with Stage II Pancreatic Cancer in early April. I am her caregiver in the sense that I manager her finances, pay her bills, buy all her groceries, take her to her appointments. Thus, I ended up spending many days in the Cancer Center as she received her treatments. She had two surgeries this year and thus I ended up spending my days in the hospital with her. I also have another intellectually disabled sister who I had to make sure was also taken care of. My two sisters are roommates. Anyway, I decided that I would drop the fifth goal for this year.
Thus, looking forward to the new year I have some similar goals as last year:
· Participate in the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – this project gives me a chance to review my research and discover things I might have overlooked.
· Continue the Goodwin Descendant Project and create a book – I have already ran a first draft of my book and now I am currently reviewing it for big missing gaps of information.
· Clean up my paper and computer files – I just need to bite the bullet and do this. I am getting up in years and I don’t want to leave an unorganized mess for my children. If I don’t start, it won’t ever get finished. I need to spend at least four hours a week doing this project.
· OPTIONAL – I also have inherited a huge slide collection from my father. I need to scan the slides. I am hoping to get a new slide scanner that will make the project a little more enjoyable. However, the paper files really have a higher priority, thus only after I have spent four hours doing the file organization project, will I even consider doing the slide project.
· Continue with DNA identification – I need to slowly go through my DNA matches, using the new Ancestry ProTools to figure out who my matches are and input them into my tree. I can do this project using my laptop at night while watching TV.
How did you do this past year? What are some of your goals or resolutions for 2025?
Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!
