Another thought about the Thursday Threesome question on life after death. I am so interested in the past, I feel connected to it. It isn't just an abstract interest in history, as an academic subject (although that is another important part of the connection). Loving antique furniture, volunteering at two museums, doing genealogical research and memoir writing, serving on a cemetery board and living in an old house near another cemetery...these are all a part of my connection.

Once I wrote that genealogy research isn't just about names and dates on a dusty old page, it's more personal. It starts with seeing a baby's name in an old census, and following that name as it ages, through the decades; then it's locating a tintype of that person, all dressed up in Sunday best; next, it's finding a newspaper clipping in a scrapbook, announcing the marriage with great fanfare and exotic descriptions; then seeing the house, where the couple lived; and finally one day it's standing near a gravestone, displaying the name and dates. The person, who lived 150 years ago, is not some distant figure from the past. That experience spoke to me.

This virtual museum from some time ago is about The Battle of Saratoga. Standing in that battlefield is an other-worldy experience, very powerful. This was another experience that spoke to me.

Both times it spoke about life after death.