I should have known this. After all, my father gave me the "family history" (a 200-odd page typed and Kinko's-bound spiral affair) years ago. But I only just really sat down and looked at it last night. Turns out it's not a family history at all. It's only about my grandfather. Not that there's anything wrong with that - he had a fascinating life! But it is rather disappointing to sit down to what you think is going to be your whole family history going back several generations only to find out you're reading a biography of one family member. Apparently my uncle has lots more of these spiral-bound missives, presumably about the rest of the ancestors. But I have yet to see them.

The exciting thing is that there are still some mysteries to fill in, so I have something to work with to get experience! And according to my mother, whoever did their side of the family did a terrible job, so it needs lots of work. So that's sort of good news for me too!

And now for Wednesday's family story...

I have two older brothers who are, in fact, much older than me. Let's call them J. and G. I grew up hearing them have the same argument over and over about one particular incident from their childhoods. My dad was in the military, so the family lived on base. I believe that at the time of "the incident" they were at Fort Campbell, KY.* In their yard was a large metal transformer (electricity, not action figure). According to J. (the younger), he and G. were playing "bullfighter" and G. deliberately put the makeshift cape in front of this transformer, causing J. to slam his head painfully into the side of the thing. To this day G. swears that J. simply tripped over his own feet (imagine J.'s reaction to such an accusation!) and that he never would have played such a horrendous trick on his beloved younger brother. I think they're both lying. G. absolutely would have played such a trick. After all, he was only about 8 years old at the time, and a rowdy young boy at that. Still, I believe his side of this one. Let the record show - balance and grace do not run in my family.

*All family stories in this blog are products of my memory of other family members' memories. There is bound to be some misinformation. But the stories themselves are genuine.