He Comes By It Honestly

I've been doing genealogy for almost 13 years now (!), and Eric is just barely starting to get vaguely interested in it. He's been learning more about some of his ancestors here and there, and it is fun to see him make connections to his forebears.

He read an account of an ancestor who got in a boat with two drunken Irishmen in St. Louis. The boat capsized, and the ancestor was saved by a friend who happened to be passing by. (The Irishmen drowned.) When I asked Eric what ever would have possessed this man to get in a boat with two drunk guys, he said, "Sometimes you just feel a strong need to be in a boat on a river."

We were at a mission farewell for an aunt and uncle, and his great-aunt was there. I chatted with her about how we are going to Europe this summer and Eric has a very full itinerary for us. She told me that his grandmother (who died in 1955) liked to have similarly full itineraries when she traveled.

Eric was talking about road tripping and our upcoming European trip with his grandma. He told her about all the time he spends with the online maps determining how far out of the way various detours might be. She told him that her father used to love maps.

There is something kind of magical about learning where your personality quirks may have come from.

And here are some recent pictures of Eric (with no glasses, because he got Lasik!), just for funsies: