Friends & Family in Salt Lake City

In early February I flew to Salt Lake City for the annual RootsTech Conference. The days were filled with wonderful learning, friends, and family. Thanks to our son David for coming to Kirkland to keep Joe company while I was gone.

 This was my first experience with Alaska Airlines. It was a a good one. 

Alaska Airlines paints their planes with interesting designs. This one had a plane-long salmon. I saw others decorated with Mickey Mouse and one with dogs pulling a sled. 

a reminder that we live on the edge of the Ring of Fire, an arc that includes more than 75% of the world's active and dormant volcanoes. (Didn't think to check that out before we moved :))

 I haven't felt temperatures like this and this much snow in a long, long time. 

There were tall piles of snow but I didn't venture out to photograph them :) 

RootsTech is the largest genealogy conference in the world. As you can guess from the name, the conference focuses on how to use technology to do family history. More than 26,000 people came from all 50 states and 37 countries. Around the world thousands more watched live-streamed classes. 

Sometimes the halls were crowded, but the Salt Palace Convention Center is huge. Most of the time it didn't feel crowded at all. Somehow in amongst those thousands of people, I managed to run into two acquaintances from Ohio, one from Mansfield and one from Marysville. And, to close one small world loop, at breakfast one morning I was talking with a couple from Utah? and they said their son was in our church's congregation in Marysville. Our Marysville friend knows him!

260 classes over 4 days 

Very difficult to decide which presentations to attend

Then there was the exhibit hall 

360 exhibitors including this company 

which boasted the biggest family tree chart in the world

 Every morning there was a general session – intimate :) setting for 12,000 people! These events were very high energy. All the keynote presenters talked about the importance of collecting and sharing people’s stories. Some but not all of the ones I heard - Stan Ellsworth, host of the TV history show American Ride drove his Harley though the room and onto the stage. Steve Rockwood referred to genealogists as “heart specialists,” people who put others in touch with family through stories, pictures, and other ways that touch hearts. Paula Williams Madison had a fascinating story. She grew up in Harlem. Her mother’s parents were Jamaican and Chinese. Paula has written a book and produced a documentary about her search for her Chinese family. You may have heard of Bruce Feiler. I've read a few of his books including "Walking the Bible." Several years ago, after a cancer diagnosis and successful treatment, he turned his focus to families and the importance of telling stories. I missed Saturday morning's keynoters because I was with grandchildren.

Everyone in this room has a story!

 Josh & Naomi Davis talked about why and how they share their life experiences in their blog about living in and raising their children in New York City. Check them out at lovetaza.com

Paula Williams Madison & Bruce Feiler are interviewed by media after their keynote presentations

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I spent a wonderful evening with dear Ohio friends who moved to the Salt Lake City area a few years ago to be closer to family.

Sunday morning I  walked to Temple Square to attend Music and the Spoken Word. 

They were just finishing the rehearsal and singing "On A Clear Day" when I walked in. As happens so often when I attend the Spoken Word, I had a soul-filling experience. My whole being filled with light, love, joy, and surety that God exists and there is truth. It was one of those experiences that can’t really be put into words. The feelings fill my body and spill out my eyes. I’m sure anyone watching me wondered what in the world was going on. I pulled myself together and enjoyed the music and the message that was on “choosing to act” and not just react. Then the closing song was “Praise to the Lord, The Almighty” and my whole being filled up again. There is a God. He knows us individually and loves us. 

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I've always enjoyed RootsTech. I come away with so many ideas about things I could (and should) do to help our family get excited about our ancestors and their stories. I enjoy learning about new techniques, being reminded of old but still useful methods of research and sharing, talking with exhibitors about their products, meeting new people, and being totally enveloped in something I find fascinating, worthwhile, and which I enjoy.

“We inherit from our ancestors gifts so often taken for granted. Each of us contains within us this inheritance of soul. We are links between the ages, containing past and present expectations, sacred memories and future promise." – Edward Sellner 

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