Detour in the road

So some interesting developments.

You know how I meant to call my mom’s sisters last week? That didn’t happen.

I know. I know. I’m awful for backing out on my promises — BUT I had a good reason. You see, before I placed the phone call Mrs. H sent me a message and brought something very interesting to my attention: We found out about Keith Brown last year.

To prove this, she sent me a link to one of my very own articles about the subject. After reading it, I realized that she was absolutely right. She had sent me a message via Ancestry calling out Keith Brown back in March of last year.

I didn’t pursue that lead back then though because I was so fixated on the idea that my grandfather was named Robinson. Looking back though, I had no reason not to.

Lesson learned: Follow every lead no matter how tenuous.

That got me thinking though. Maybe I should reach back out to Texas950 before I called my mom’s sisters. My reasons were twofold:

• She knew about Keith. Which meant that she more than likely also knew Keith’s children. If she knew my mom’s sisters then…
• She could make the introduction. If there’s one thing they tell you about networking, it’s that a warm introduction is 100x better than a cold one.

So I sent Kimberly a message explaining that we had discovered the connection: Keith was my grandfather. My mom is her second cousin.

I wasn’t expecting a reply anytime soon. After all, she has her own life and was probably busy at 2:42pm on a Friday.

However, she responded within half an hour.

Ahhhhh! “Welcome to the family.” My heart could explode.

I wound up asking her more about Keith and her daughters and she told me what she could. She doesn’t have their phone numbers but her mother does.

The best part? She wants to make the introduction. Makes sense too considering this is kind of HUGE knowledge to be dropping on someone you don’t even know.

Cut to two weeks later. I haven’t heard anything from Kimberly and have pinged her twice since then. Sucks because I’m really excited about this but I also know that she has her own life to live and can’t go catering to my every life-altering whim.

So I put it to you:

What should I do?

Should I keep bothering Kimberly about it? I’ve messaged her with a “Hey how’s it going?” twice now and don’t want to be annoying. I know how that can turn someone off to my efforts.

Or maybe none of this is necessary and I should buy a plane ticket to New York and knock on my mom’s sisters’ doors and announce myself like Killmonger.

Tell me what you think in the comments or send me an email via the contact form. I look forward to hearing your thoughts.