Unexpected visitors came this morning. The visitors were my Aunt Estelyne and Uncle Conard. This might seem a bit routine except for the fact that Aunt Estelyne and Uncle Conard have been dead since the 1980's.
It was a bit of a strange dream, as dreams can be, but to my memory it's the first time that I have dreamed about them. I miss them very much, and have some wonderful memories centered around them. But I also have wonderful memories about many of my now deceased relatives, so I'm not sure why Aunt Estelyne and Uncle Conard made my dream schedule on the day after Christmas. My older sister thinks that our dead ancestors visit us in our dreams. I'm not sure that I concur with that belief, but nonetheless if it's so then I couldn't be more pleased by the visit. As I said, I miss them very much.
Whatever the origin, the dream about Uncle Conard and Aunt Estelyne has had one very tangible effect on me, and that is to start this blog. I've been thinking about them and about my family in general all day as a result of that dream. I thought about writing a memory of them and of their also deceased son and my 1st cousin, Tommy, and distributing it on our family e-mail list, but then thought that perhaps everyone might not welcome my memories and musings in their in-box. So the thought occured to me to start this blog where I can sit from time to time and write anything that I wish about my family, their history, my memories of them, and more. I can inform the family of its existence and those who wish to read can.
I promise no rhyme or reason to how it may be organized, how often it may be updated, or what I may say. I am not going to try and make a family history out of it, though in the best circumstances I suppose that it could end up containing a lot of family history, if I stick with it. While I am part of a wonderful family, our family, like most others, is not wonderful in every aspect, so I don't promise that everything written here will be that which only adds lustre to the family name. Halos and horns both will be present from time to time, I presume, though knowing my family (and one's natural good estimation of themselves despite all attempts at objectivity) I would suspect that halos might prevail.
For the record, I am Dennis Dio Parker, one of the many Parkers who have connections to the Mammoth Cave region of Edmonson County, Kentucky. The family has been blessed and has multiplied and now not all members carry the name of Parker, nor were they born or raised in the Mammoth Cave area. Nonetheless, all are equally and fully Parker, and all carry equal value. Our oldest known ancestor from the region, a Meredith, can be dated to the 1820's. The Parker name came to the region in the late 1870's from Tennessee, when Balaam C. Parker moved in and married Margaret C. Meredith. We are an exceedingly close clan, holding annual four day reunions each year in the Mammoth Cave area, and having done so now for 60 consecutive years, starting in 1946. Through the years of our family many interesting characters have passed by, the most interesting perhaps being the first Parker of Mammoth Cave, Balaam. Stories of success and failure, triumph and defeat, joy and sadness, fortune and tragedy are all part of the rich tapestry of our family history. Perhaps some of those tales will come out in this blog.
So here it is. The beginning. Enjoy.
