Author Archives: Susan Rink
Hair today…
It’s Day 10 of my first round of chemo and I’m feeling pretty good. The worst side effect I’ve seen so far from the chemical cocktail is some major cramping in my lower abdomen and down my legs during the 3rd and 4th day after chemo. Annoying, but definitely manageable. On Tuesday I’ll go in […]
Blessings
I am truly blessed. Since I started telling my family and a very small group of friends about my cancer diagnosis, I’ve been overwhelmed (in a good way) by their positive support and encouragement. I know it’s hard for someone to figure out a way to help someone who is struggling, especially if that […]
Cocktail hour(s)
Well, the first round of chemo is behind me. One down, five to go. It went well, I think. As I wrote in my previous post, I didn’t know what to expect and so I didn’t know how to prepare. But now that we’ve gone through this once, I’m going to be a lot more […]
Sleepless in Simpsonville…Chemo Day 1
This is it — first chemo treatment begins in less than two hours. I will admit that I didn’t get much sleep last night. There was too much swirling around in my head. Apparently it was rough night for mom, too. We agree that as long as we know what to expect, as long as […]
Blue hair
I have never colored my hair. I started going gray in college, and over time I developed a number of nice silver streaks in my medium brown hair. It worked well for me in my 20s and 30s, as I worked with much older men — it seemed to give me a bit of gravitas […]
And so it begins…
I had to check my calendar — it seems like just yesterday that I received the phone call with the test results. And yes, I’m just weird enough to have noted “Cancer Diagnosis” on my calendar on December 11. I remember thinking how unreal this all was…and that I was supposed to be hosting upwards […]
How my genealogy journey began – Part Three (“The Summer of Libraries and Cemeteries”)
Over the course of the summer of 2011, we traced the path of mom’s Ensminger ancestors across Pennsylvania from the original settlers’ farm in Lancaster County, to York County where the first generation of American Ensmingers were born, where two generations of Ensmingers fought in the American Revolution and two later generations fought in the Civil War, to Carlisle and finally back to Butler.
How my genealogy journey began – Part Two (Lost Boys)
Let me assure you that when the everyday, average person shows up at the records department of the county courthouse, they are NOT met by the head of the history department of the local university, who has prepared a scroll documenting 17 generations of family members.
How my genealogy journey began – Part One (Father’s Day)
I believe there are many people today who come from the same place I did, not really knowing their family history and not sure where to start. I hope that the story of my mom’s search for her father’s family will serve as motivation for others to begin their own research.
Cyber Connections
Ancestry.com is a great resource for finding copies of Federal Census records, and for other similar records. But the site offers much more — access to millions of other Ancestry members and their research. As I’ve learned over the past two years, many of those members are extremely generous in sharing their knowledge and advice to others. And as it turns out, some of them are long-lost relatives.