What makes me happy

  

              I have discovered that money or material things in this world will never make me happy... the only thing that really makes me happy is “family.”  This is very likely part of my genetic makeup.  I grew up in a loving family.  My Mother and Father always made sure that their children came before all else in their lives.  I also had many aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents who all seemed to be around all the time.

             As a child, I just took it for granted that our neighborhood in Nebraska was made up of family members because I had many relatives who only lived within a block or two of each other.  When my parents moved us to California I missed that sense of security most… then it gradually faded from memory.  Years later, while visiting one of my uncles “back home” he took me on a short tour of the old neighborhood with a running dialog of who lived here, who lived there and who was born in which house… the memories came flooding back.

            During my Navy career I had the opportunity to visit many exotic places in this world where people gleefully spend thousands of dollars to visit. When I was in those exotic places, I found that I could never wait to get home to “family.” I spent 20 years in the Navy being homesick….especially when I was away from my wife and children.

            I now find it very comforting to have all my children and grandchildren close by. I love to play with my grandchildren. I love to just sit with my grandchildren in my lap and rock them. I love taking a nap on the couch with one of them sleeping on my chest. I love watching them learn new things. And it is for them that I have taken on this project so they will know where they came from.  Hopefully they will remember me when I’m long gone… they give me immortality.

            I also enjoy family gatherings where my children, grandchildren, siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews get together to share their lives and a good pot-luck dinner.

            I have never had the pleasure to personally meet many of my ancestors, but I have heard my parents and grandparents speak of them from time to time. However, as a writer and through my research, I get to, by proxy, share a great many adventures in their lives just by writing stories about them. As I can almost feel what my forefathers felt in their lives when I think of them, hopefully, my descendants will do the same when remembering me.

            When I first started on this project, I stood alongside a highway outside the little town of Broken Bow, Nebraska, where my Grandpa Hersh was born and raised, and stared across the plains trying to “soak up” as much feeling for the place as I could.  I felt very comfortable in my short visit there.  I also visited the little square in the middle of town and just watched people and observed their mannerisms.

            For a time I spent every Sunday morning watching the program “Sunday Morning” with Charles Kuralt, waiting for the segment “Post Cards From Nebraska” with Roger Walsh because it made me feel at home, even though I had basically grown up in California.  During my visit to Broken Bow I also made a very valuable visit to the Historical Society there.  When I walked in the door and asked if they had any information on the Hersh family, the docent there handed me a file which was about six inches thick... I discovered a treasure... and the treasure was family!   There were birth records, newspaper clippings and photographs of the Hersh family going back over a 100 years, the information included the birth and marriage records of my grandfather and my mother’s birth date.  A family member thought that it was important enough to keep this information for a future generation to see… thank goodness for that foresight.