A couple of weeks ago I hit genealogical paydirt. I had been corresponding with some McKenzie family cousins and someone gave me an address of a fellow in his seventies who remembered my great grandparents well. He and I shared several emails, although he apologized for the brevity of the correspondence since he wasn't feeling well. He shared an address of another cousin with me who sent me some wonderful old family photographs.
I went to thank the old fellow and his email address bounced back as inactive. I googled him and discovered he had died just weeks after he had shared with me. He was emailing and sharing family history information just weeks before in spite of feeling poorly. If I had waited longer to contact him I never would have received the address of the caretaker of the family photographs. Life is short, the longer you procrastinate on the old fashioned chores, such as writing an old fashioned letter, (which prompted this initial exchange) the more chance you take that the link you are seeking will have passed, quite literally.
