Yesterday was very busy for us. I had a Dorcas Circle bible study meeting at 7:00 AM ( I still can’t get over what a funny name that is), and then we had a tree service arrive to do some trimming at 8:30. At 10:15 we left for Sioux Falls to get both dogs groomed. While we waited we made a trip to Costco and HyVee grocery. We don’t plan to revisit Sioux Falls for 6 weeks or so.

At my bible study, a woman who I had not met before wanted to know who I was. I explained we had moved here from North Dakota. The other women interjected that I had grown up here. I explained that I was a Boomgaarden. She looked very closely at me and said “Of course you are! You look just like your mother!” More conversation revealed we had the same Grade 3 teacher, but in different years.

Husband wrote a cheque to the tree trimmers when they finished at 10:00. The service is owned by a husband/wife team who both do the trimming. When the wife saw my name on the cheque she asked if I had any relatives in Hawarden, Iowa. (That is a small town south of us in northwest Iowa. My father’s family is from northwest Iowa.) She said that she grew up in Hawarden, and as a little girl would take May baskets to an elderly woman named Dorothy Boomgaarden, who would always yodel for her. My grandfather had 11 brothers and sisters, and anyone around this area with that name is probably a relative. Sure enough, when I looked up Dorothy’s obituary she turned out to be the wife of one of my father’s numerous first cousins. In her obituary it stated that her passion for yodeling couldn’t be forgotten.

I continue to revel in the interconnectedness I feel here. I wish I knew the story behind the yodeling. What a great thing to put in her obituary.

What funny things would you like in your obituary? Ever tried to yodel? What interesting things could your relatives do?