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I have picked up my great-grandmother's pocket watch from the shop today and I can't stop smiling.
My grandfather was born at the turning of the 20th Century and lived nearly long enough to see the turning of the 21st Century. He was a family tree buff so he had all the names, dates and relations of our family going back two and a half centuries. And while I lived with him for the last dozen years of his life and heard countless stories, all those recounted were about him and his life. All that rich history, all those stories, those opportunities, lost to an old man's self-importance.
But here, in my hand, a piece of that history. A real, tangible connection to my ancestors. A mystery, yes, but one that still lives, ticking like a heartbeat, vibrating with a life that had been silent for far too long.
Welcome home.
My grandfather was born at the turning of the 20th Century and lived nearly long enough to see the turning of the 21st Century. He was a family tree buff so he had all the names, dates and relations of our family going back two and a half centuries. And while I lived with him for the last dozen years of his life and heard countless stories, all those recounted were about him and his life. All that rich history, all those stories, those opportunities, lost to an old man's self-importance.
But here, in my hand, a piece of that history. A real, tangible connection to my ancestors. A mystery, yes, but one that still lives, ticking like a heartbeat, vibrating with a life that had been silent for far too long.
Welcome home.
