Fact-finding mission

Joe and Clara Millman, my paternal great-grandparents.

When my dad died, I inherited a box of old photos and documents, many of which were unlabeled. My grandfather's and grandmother's family photos were tossed together, unsorted, in a big (classically Steven) jumble.

One thing led to another, and somehow over the past few months I've become pretty obsessed with piecing together my family history. The various online resources, of which Ancestry.com is the mothership, make this remarkably easy. What they can't do, however, is tell me who's in the pictures. For that, I need to go to my dad's family, which thankfully I still have in Pennsylvania and New York.

So I'm off on a solo-adventure (my first since Anna was born)! I'll be flying out on a red-eye late Wednesday night for four full days of genealogy geekery. I'm going to interview my 94-year-old great aunt (my grandfather's sister) in Philly, and my grandmother's 84-year-old first cousin in New York. And I'll have the chance to do the same with my mom's side of the family in October. I'm super excited for all of this.

I can't recommend enough that you take the time to interview older relatives if you've got them (Go, do it now!). I feel like I'm doing this just in the nick of time. Because of this trip, this information will be available to Anna if/when she ever becomes interested. Otherwise much of it would be lost forever.