You Never Know

So... you never know... never know how your actions might influence someone else... never know how your letters might cheer someones day...

I'm researching my family tree... all the time! And was trying to track down a cousin of my mother's who disappeared off the radar after moving to Switzerland. She has a fairly distinctive last name and I found her address in Geneva... which is the same as the address we had on file for her after she moved to Switzerland. We just never heard from her.

A couple of years ago, I wrote a letter and never got a response... This year I was in Switzerland, but the eastern part, not anywhere near Geneva. But after I got home, I figured "what the heck" and wrote her another letter, this time with a picture of myself and my mother...

These letters feel like real shots in the dark sometimes... there's a hope for a response... but no real expectation of one. So, when I saw an email in my hotmail account from her... I was very surprised!! And immediately phoned my mom to tell her the good news... who also got very excited!! She wants to sit down right now and write a letter to her cousin! Then I forwarded it to my uncle... and we'll see who else will receive a copy of this email.... Maybe one of my cousins can forward it to my other aunt! And so it goes... One letter and one response... and it can influence so many others...

Persistence pays off...