BLESSINGS, NOT MISUNDERSTANDINGS

There have been some misunderstandings. If my own sister Judy had copyrighted great grandfather Torsten’s book and would not allow me to put it on the Uglemfamily website I created for it I would not love her any less. I might tease her. Ask any of my sisters if I would tease them. I was made that way. My grandma Mabel Uglem was a great kidder. Oh how we would laugh! It isn’t just laughter. We make a point in such moments. Sometimes, on the internet, someone might get the misimpression that a person is being deliberately hurtful. Not so. I mean no harm.

I am just at a stage in my life where family means more to me than it did before. I am 55 years old. I love my wife very much. I love my mom. I telephone her regularly. I love my dad. We talk on the phone too. I have maintained contact with my three sisters and my brother. We share great emails on a regular basis. We have a lot of laughs these days even though we are thousands of miles apart. My work on the family genealogy and webpages are more of the same thing. I have gained a feeling of family by bringing together my Holme and Ross cousins, my McNaughton and Uglem cousins, by designing the websites. It has often been very heartwarming to meet cousins I never met before, to speak with them on the phone for hours sometimes. (I have free long distance on weekends.)

So it is with great sadness that I know that I have made anyone angry with me. Talking and writing to them does not seem to help. Perhaps a mustard seed of hope will grow into a great tree and one day we will all be friends again. Much of the problem area is my great grandfather’s book. Torsten wrote it for all of us. I know Torsten would have approved of my website. He would not want my sister Judy to copyright his book and keep me from putting it on the Uglemfamily website. I would chide her if she thought so. But I would love her none the less. We may have differences of opinion without destroying the heart of our family. How silly it would be to hold a deep grievance. Great Grandma Johanna would not approve. She was kind and generous.

If you hear any reports that I bear ill feelings towards any cousin because they disagree with me please remember this note I have written to you from my heart. I do hope someday we will be able to put Torsten’s book here with the others. There is nothing of too delicate a nature in his book that would preclude it from being included here for all to read. That is what I believe. Do not be miserable or angry. Be compassionate. Be forgiving. Be good to each other. If you have any better teachings for each other, say them.

                                                                Blessings on you all,

                                                                                    Cousin Ross

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