It's a Great Big, Small World Out There

When I started this little blog I had no idea what it would become, or if I'd even stick with it. I started it in November 2010 and made it my new years resolution to keep it up for at least one year. It wasn't always easy, especially in the beginning as I was finding my writing style and voice and learning to make time for it in my life. Some of those first posts I look back on and cringe as I read them over, but it's all part of the process, so there they stand. A year passed and I kept on writing and another year came and went and now it's been almost three years and I'm still here. This blog is far from what I wish it could be but the only way to improve is to keep working at it and write, write, write.

All of this is to say, I never knew anyone would read this thing. Other than my mom because moms are a given, and maybe occasionally Josh, you know, when he was bored. So I've been floored by the amount of love and support I've been given over the last few years in my tiny corner of the internet over here. Readers from all over; friends, family, acqaintances, perfect strangers and other bloggers turned new friends. It's really been wonderful and truly such a gift to get to do this. So a few weeks ago when I recieved an email from a distant relative in Slovakia who found my blog and wanted to reach out to me and share some photos and family history I was blown away. Who knew this little old blog would one day connect two people, relatives, who through time and circumstance live worlds away from each other? What a treat. What a priviledge.

This man, this relative of mine, Robert, lives in Galanta, Slovakia with his family. This area of the world is where my great grandmother Barbara was born.  It's now known as Slovakia but was at the time my great grandmother was born, still Hungary. Her family immigrated to the US somewhere between 1907-1911. Robert's grandfather and Barbara's mother were siblings and his part of the family still remains in Slovakia to this day.

He wrote me all about our family history, some of which I knew and some I didn't. He shared photos, and links to articles with me and opened my eyes so much to my hungarian roots and how our family came to be here in the US. The unfortunate part of our history is that my great-grandmother Barbara died when she was only 29 and my grandmother, her daughter Elivra, was only 4 years old. My grandmother never really got the chance to know her mother, and of course neither did any of us. So it was quite amazing when Robert sent me these pictures and stories of Barbara, a woman whom I never knew, but without whom I would have never existed.

 

my great grandmother, Barbara (Kiacz) Kovach

 

 

Barbara and her parents, Rose and Louis Kiacz

Barbara and her three sisters, Magdalena, Mary and Rose

 

 

My grandmother, Elvy

 

My grandmother as a young girl, second from the left

 

 

 

This blog has helped me find myself in so many ways that this is just one more cherry on top. Thank you, Robert, for sharing these pictures, and our story with me. I will be forever grateful.