It's a small world.

It surely is a small world! Especially now we have that clever little thing called the inter..thingy something or other.
I was just doing a spot of research on the ancestry website last night, trawling through the names and dates, yawn... when up pops a family tree for Samuel. (Remember Sam? He's my granddad on my mum's side - I know, it's a lot to remember, even I'm getting confused to be fair.)
I hadn't posted this particular family tree and so I was quite excited to see it, even though it was incomplete. My mum was missing from it, as well as one of mum's brothers.
I clicked on it, then debated with myself, should I contact the person who had posted it?
Did I contact them? Yes I did! I'm so glad that I did.
I found out an amazing piece of information about one of my uncles, and I have made contact with a long lost cousin.
The background to this uncle's story is quite shocking really. The consequences of his actions were tragic. Someone was killed and this really brings home the very real nature of the research.
Sometimes the people can feel so distant...when I'm looking at names and places in the 1800s it has the feeling of make believe in a way, but when I come across events that happened in the twentieth century it all becomes so much more real.
I spoke with my mum to corroborate the things I'd been told and, surprisingly, she agreed. I had no idea. For years she's never said a word. For years she's hidden this piece of information from us all. For years she stayed away from her brother, maybe because of this tragedy.
I have two brothers. I hope I stay in touch with them both, no matter what, but events in our childhood shape us, and maybe even shape the turns that our lives will take.