Welcome to 2019 - A New Beginning

It's officially the first day of the new year, 2019. It's been a whirlwind this past year, particularly over the last few months. Since my last blog post I made a huge change in my life. I quit my current job as an IT analyst and become a professional genealogist at New England Historic Genealogical Society. I'm so excited for this opportunity. I've been working hard to advance in the genealogy industry by lecturing at local events and even my first international conference (Ontario Conference). I was accepted to speak at RootsTech and NERGC in the next few months. I took a position at the end of the summer being an on-call genealogist where I was filling in for other employees at NEHGS that were out. This greatly helped me understand what it means to help other genealogists do their research in a library setting.

I learned in the past year that it's never too late to chase your dreams and that you can get your dream job. I feel I'm making more of a difference in people's lives than I ever did working in the corporate world. It's all about the people and when someone shares their latest discovery and how grateful they feel to be more connected to their family I feel very choked up. This is why I love doing genealogy. It's brought my family closer together since it humanizes our ancestors, let's us see them as people that grow, fall, and just live life. Through my genealogy I have uncovered cousins that my family thought had passed but are still very much with us. I was able to give my grandmother some closure on some family members and what happened to them and who is very much alive and living well.

I expect lots of big things for this year. New lectures, new appearances, learning new skills, and making new friends and connections. I hope to roll out my Wicked History blog series soon (I know it's been a bit delayed). Genealogy On the Road will pop up every now during my travels. I can't wait to share my journey with all of you. Thank you to everyone who believed in me and encouraged my journey.

What are you looking forward to in 2019?