Part 2 - Why do we keep secrets?
At Record My Past, it is not uncommon for us to unearth a secret. Someone relaying their life story might say ‘You know I’ve actually never told anyone that before’, or during our family history research we come across a ‘skeleton in the closet’.
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Part 1 - What is a secret?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what I find so compelling about researching my own family history and helping others research theirs. It’s not only to do with completing the jigsaw of my genealogical story. It’s like an almost misplaced fascination about what secrets lie lurking.
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There is extraordinary in every ordinary.
Having just finished off Record My Past’s most recent project, I am once again struck by my storyteller’s humble and self-effacing reflections. Whilst he would have called his life an ordinary one, the family members ... will see in its pages why I’ve subtitled it ‘A Lucky Bloke’.
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Why do people reveal all to a complete stranger?
People make sense of their personal history by telling their life story. But they won’t necessarily disclose everything to a family member... ‘Oh it’s not that interesting really. I don’t remember a lot about it.’
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What is it about pets...?
Adding a puppy to the family dynamic, 15 years after our last foray into puppydom and 18 years after our last human baby entered the world, has blown any thoughts of normal routine and a good night’s sleep out the window. What a shock to an old system!
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Do you ever get a sense of 'aroma déjà vu?'
Have you ever had that experience where, out of the blue, a certain smell shoots you into your past, sometimes so remotely that you can’t pinpoint quite why you remember it or from what period in your life? Often it’s a food association, but it could also take you back to a moment in time...
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My father sadly has no idea how much he has influenced my career...
All blogs need to have that first starter post and procrastination is the worst enemy of its creator. As Jennifer Saunders so rightly put it: “I wish someone really important would admit to procrastination and turn it into a disease and then there would be a treatment centre”. But start somewhere I must, so I am going to leap in with the motivations behind my drive to start Record My Past...
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