We're not in Africa anymore Dorothy

Wednesday, March 4, 2015
OK, Dorothy isn't with me but Nancy is.  We are in Faversham, Kent, England.  We have a beautiful room in the Sun Inn, originally built in 1349.  Yes, 1349.  As a Canadian it is hard to even imagine 1349, but here you see this kind of history everywhere you turn.  It's in the cobblestone streets, in the residences that have withstood centuries of wear, and in the churches where people mourned and buried their dead-marking the graves with sad missives carved in stone in the 1500s.  It's a different world than Africa, and Nancy and I are both grateful for that.  The pace is slow here, the weather crisp, it's what we need.

How did we get here from Africa?  It's a good question.  A long time ago I started researching our family tree, and Faversham is the heart of our father's tree.  I have walked the street that my great grandfather, Horace, walked as a child and stood on the porch of the house he lived in when the 1881 census was done.  Down the street from the Sun Inn, at 1 West Street, is where my great great grandmother was living in 1841.  I've walked to the Faversham creek where, no doubt, my ancestors came to relax and play in their childhood.  And perhaps, just maybe, I have sat with Nancy and shared a night cap in the same pub as Horace or Samuel or Julia did over a century ago.  Nancy has been wonderful, traipsing through graveyards (grid pattern splitting up works best) looking for the markers that will tell me more about my ancestors, she's been very successful to date and we still have one more day to go.

So this isn't Africa.  Am I missing Ghana?  In a way I am.  I miss the people, and the new adventures that one anticipates will be around every corner.  But that's looking back now, and I'm looking forward to getting on the plane on Friday in London and coming home to see my family and friends.  It's been a long trip and I'm thankful for this little town that is rejuvenating and relaxing, and for the chance to walk on the soil of my forefathers.