There’s a song from the opening credits of a now-cancelled TV show called “Life Unexpected” that haunts me, and as a long-time genealogy nut and research nerd, I always sing it in my head when I am trawling the Internet or leafing through musty old books, looking for long-lost family members. The song is by Rain Perry, and it’s called Beautiful Tree.

Beautiful Tree

Bent or broken, it’s the family tree
Bent or broken, it’s the family tree

Each branch a part of a part of me
This is my tree, and It’s a beautiful tree

Dwarf or giant, it’s the family tree
Dwarf or giant, it’s the family tree
Growing just as tall as it was meant to be
This is your tree, and it’s a beautiful tree

What a beautiful tree

Strong or fragile, it’s the family tree
Strong or fragile, it’s the family tree
See how the sun shines through the leaves
This is our tree, and it’s a beautiful tree

What a beautiful tree

Sure, it’s broken, but It’s the family tree
Sure, it’s broken, but It’s the family tree
I can feel the sap running through me
This is my tree, and it’s a beautiful tree

My other blog is called Adventures of the Crazy Train, and it’s about the off-the-beaten-path adventures my little family of five likes to take. We would love to expand the blog, the instagram page and the twitter feed to reach millions so that we can get other families off the interstate to explore the hidden gems that are right under their noses. Eventually, we hope to attract sponsors to help us fund an RV (or a rockstar bus since I am not really one for “roughing it”) and some regular publishing gigs. But we realize that those kinds of deals are one in a million, so in the meantime, we will keep doing what we love, and hope that fate intervenes. You can find it at http://www.adventuresofthecrazytrain or on instagram @thep5crazytrain. Please follow us! We’d love to take you along with us on our adventures!

But It’s A Beautiful Tree is a horse of a different color than Adventures of the Crazy Train. Ever since I was little, I have enjoyed genealogy and family trees. I religiously set my DVR for Who Do You Think You Are and Finding Your Roots because I find the process, the research, and the results to be so fascinating. We all come from somewhere. I don’t think that where you come from necessarily determines who you are or who you are going to be in life, but I think that just knowing who “your people” are is just plain FUN. The people who came before us led such different lives and followed such different paths and had so m any different decisions to make. Every generation is tasked with different circumstances, and it’s such and interesting journey to see how your ancestors made their way through it all. Some of my “people” have disappeared into history, others have left a lasting imprint on this earth. Regardless of their accomplishments, they all deserved to be remembered.

I hope you’ll come along with me on my journey, and I hope that MY Beautiful Tree inspires you to research your own Beautiful Tree. Because it’s your tree, and It’s A Beautiful Tree.