The recent past at FWL has involved lots of changes. We have had many tradesman gracing our offices with their presence from window fitters (we now have posh french doors!) to an amazing decorator and then the carpet fitters to complete the project. It has caused some chaos (as these projects do) and now we are in the process of sorting out all the boxes and piles of ‘stuff’, finding new homes for things and decluttering (or decrapifying as I have heard it is now called). This set me thinking: isn’t decorating just like family history?
With decorating (or a bigger project like ours), you decide on what you want to achieve …. the bigger picture if you like. You set your budget, the schedule and the ‘order of service’ with regard to the steps along the way. Then you take the wallpaper (or in this particular case, a mirror) off the wall and find the wall surface is like a cobbled street. That changes things …. it needs fixing which can (a) cost more than you initially budgeted for and (b) put the schedule back a bit as the plaster/filler will need to dry (and be sanded down in the latter case) before painting.
Family history is an enormous project – like an ever growing jigsaw puzzle. Small parts of the family history project can be planned, budgeted for and scheduled. But, you never know what you will find out, just like you never know what will be behind the wallpaper…..
Tracing your family history uncovers hidden gems of information about your ancestors, some of which you will want to showcase and other details you may want to plaster/wallpaper over! But whatever you find – either in your decorating project or in your family history – you will deal with it along the way, although it may change the schedule and budget a tad. I bet you’ll be delighted with the finished product whichever road you took to get there – we certainly are in the office!
