While you might be waiting for the end of treatment post with bated breath, I’m side-tracking a bit this week.

Somewhere between the end of the farmer market season in 2022 and the 2023 cancer diagnosis, I took on a project I have been meaning to attempt for some years now — collect the Kaseman family information and create a history book.

Well, it didn’t work the first time. This time, I had a little more luck with a few more families, however, I’m still missing some pedigrees, and at the rate I’m going, the family size will increase again, and I will be behind. The good news is my cousin (twice) Marion, and I, went to Fargo to visit my Aunt Erna in November. Erna is my dad’s sister and was married to my mom’s cousin. 

The sole purpose that day was to capture Aunt Erna on tape. For some reason, I felt the need to do this. It was after my dad died that I felt compelled to dig into my ancestry and do another German-Russian interview. After all, she was 94 at the time, one of two of my dad’s siblings still on earth, and this year she will celebrate 96 years. 

Granddaughter Elle did a short video of my dad for fun one Sunday while we visited him in Jamestown. Dad would do it for her, but he would never have sat for an hour like Erna did for me. 

The whole day was amazing. I was tickled pink. The video was clean and required very little editing. Of course, in my true form, I neglected to keep a close eye on the camera and there is a segment where I missed the video portion, but caught Erna’s voice on my backup recorder. I did learn a few lessons with Ewiger Saatz and Women Behind the Plow interviews.

If you take the time to watch this video interview, just note that the still part will pass, and Erna will reappear as animated and on the ball as ever. What a trooper, we talked for an hour straight.

As usual, these old Germans are not too impressed with themselves. The earlier interviews I did always started with me coaxing the person to do the interview. For some reason, these folks with all their wealth of knowledge, didn’t think anyone cared to listen to them.

Today, I’m taking a break from cancer and remembering the many aunts and uncles I have (had). If I counted correctly, there were 39. I think I counted about 70 first cousins. If I’m wrong, I’m sure that one of my many cousins will correct me. Of those 39 aunts and uncles (that number includes my parents), there are only around 10 left. 

My Ancestry DNA results show thousands of cousins in four generations. I don’t know them all as you can imagine. We are testing the two granddaughters this year and comparing the differences. Mostly because I tease Elle about being a bit watered down as her mom did not marry a German-Russian. 

It grieves me to think I have aunts that live to be 96, 97, and older, and that I will probably not make that many years. I wanted to. I had plans. I will talk about that later. 

I do want everyone who reads my posts to know how much I appreciate the kind words and support as we share this story. It’s gotten a little easier to accept.

But please watch the interview — Aunt Erna is a gem. And leave your comments so I can share them with her.