family_stories kerry i asked him what he liked about himself and the question seemed to disarm him. whoops, i thought. what if i hit a nerve? and we sat there quietly for a moment before he said, "when i decide i'm going to do something, i do it. i follow through." i said he also seems like a curious person and this also seemed to disarm him and he said "do you think so? why?" "because you're collecting all these stories about your family, your ancestry, building your family tree. you're interested in the past." and he said he had to, like it was obvious, and what was the big deal, and when i told him not everybody cares about their family history his eyes grew wide and he looked incredulous. "are you serious?" (it made me laugh.) "yeah, there are lots of people who just don't think about that kind of stuff." "that makes no sense. why?" "i don't know, i mean i agree with you, but i guess they're just thinking about what's happening now, not so interested in what happened before." he still seemed stunned. "but if you don't collect them, all those stories just disappear. they die with you." 220925 what's it to you? who go blather from