It's Never Too Late!

At the beginning of June, I did something I have wanted to do for a very long time. With my 10 year old granddaughter Kennedy in tow, we headed to Quincy, IL. Quincy is the town that my paternal Great-great Grandparents immigrated to in 1860 from Stockheim, Germany. Quincy was where my Dad grew up and was the first place I took an airplane to when I was five years old. To this day, many relatives still reside there and this is why we went. 

 

To keep Kennedy engaged, I planned stops at the Cahokia Indian Mounds, the Gateway Arch and the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and last but not least Hannibal, MO and the Mark Twain Caves. It was a joy to expose her to history and to see her absorb and enjoy the various stops. She even kept a journal and rated each days with stars!

 

But the best part was meeting our cousins. On Friday June 5, we met with Carol Kroner, Helen 'Sweets' Langan, and Shirley Deringer. Carol is my 2nd cousin, Sweets is  my 1st cousin 1x removed and Shirley is the daughter of my Great-Grand Uncle...not sure what that makes her, but she's family!

  

Carol Kroner, Helen 'Sweets' Langan and Shirley Deringer



Kennedy and I with our cousins

Lunch lasted for over two hours and was filled with lots of laughter and stories. I'm sure to the other patrons of the restaurant we were just a gregarious group of old friends. Little did they know, that only Sweets and Shirley really knew each other. Before saying good-bye we exchanged pictures, addresses and lots of hugs. We all agreed that this should have been done years ago.  I sneaked a peek at Kennedy's journal that night and she gave the day FIVE stars! I couldn't agree more, it was a great day.