If your family tree doesn’t fork … you might be a redneck. ~ Jeff Foxworthy
I think that, as we get older, it becomes more important for us to know where we came from. Most everyone (unless adopted) knows who their birth parents are – probably their grandparents, too. But beyond that it can become a crapshoot.
My wife recently discovered some old black-and-white photos of her relatives and has begun feverishly asking her aunts and uncles to help her identify the strangers on these photos. Meanwhile, on my side of the family, my grandfather was able to trace our family’s heritage back a couple hundred years – including one particular gent with an outstanding name, Ambrosius Weis. As it turns out, both sides of our families are German/Irish … meaning our forefathers would eat anything in an animal casing and drink anything that comes in a bottle – and it also explains why I don’t have a prayer of getting a suntan.
Once you are able to see your family tree and view pictures of long, lost relatives who were on this earth before your time, it’s like meeting a new friend and peeling back a layer of mystery surrounding who and what you are … you know, filling in some of the missing blanks. And it’s funny … the more stuff you find out about your forerunners, the more you want to know … but you’ll never know everything.
Somewhere up in heaven, Ambrosius Weis and friends are probably smiling, secure in the knowledge that their secrets will forever remain undiscovered here on this planet.
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It was his big moment in the sun; his 15 minutes of fame. The stage was set. The eyes of the entire world were on him.
And he pulled a “Bill Buckner.”
Poor John Roberts.
In the midst of all the hoopla of Obama’s first day as President, all that separated Obama and the highest office in the land was the swearing in ceremony – performed by none other than Chief Justice John Roberts.
No doubt Roberts had practiced in the mirror and went through the ceremony in his head a thousand times. No doubt he’s been through high-profile events in his life before. So what happened next was a bit unexpected (thanks to the New York Times for the transcript):
Chief Justice Roberts prompted Mr. Obama with these words: “that I will execute the office of the president to the United States faithfully.” The chief justice seemed to say “to” rather than “of,” but that was not the main problem. The main problem was that the word “faithfully” had floated upstream in the constitutional text, which actually says this: “That I will faithfully execute the office of the president of the United States.”
Mr. Obama seemed to realize this, pausing quizzically after saying “that I will execute –”
The chief justice gave it another go, getting closer but still not quite right: “faithfully the office of president of the United States.” This time, he omitted the word “execute.”
Mr. Obama now repeated the chief justice’s initial error of putting “faithfully” at the end of the phrase. Starting where he had abruptly paused, he said: “the office of the president of the United States faithfully.”
It was smooth sailing from there. All of the words in the oath were uttered, along with “so help me God” at the end.
At the end of the swearing in, it was undoubtedly Chief Justice Roberts that was ready to swear. I feel for him.
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