SLIGth-Inning Stretch

Wednesday. Hump Day. I'll admit it; I was dragging pretty hard this morning. Given my observations of many of the attendees I saw and chatted with today, I wasn't the only one feeling it either. It's that time of the week in every institute when you've been running full-tilt for three straight days. With so many wonderful evening opportunities like SLIG Night at the FHL or lectures or the Ancestry Pro-Genealogists meet-and-greet (never mind the siren call of the FHL itself), sometimes it's hard to tear yourself away from all the excitement to accomplish minor things like doing homework, playing with all the exciting new resources your instructors have been showing you or, in my case, blogging. As a result, you might find yourself staying up entirely too late and sometimes there just isn't enough caffeine in the world to make your brain start functioning properly again.

Today was totally that day for me. Sleep-deprived as I was this morning, I managed to focus well enough, completely fascinated as I was by the Congressional Serial Set and other resources introduced to us by Rick Sayre. I also heeded D. Joshua Taylor's later admonition to make sure we didn't settle for looking only at pension files themselves, but to consider accompanying affidavits and such because sometimes they had mentions about or were written by our ancestors. In fact, so prescient was this advice that during the break I actually found just such a mention of my 4 times great-grandfather on a letter in the pension file of one Rebecca Clark, widow of War of 1812 soldier Elisha Clark. The mention had nothing to do with the pension application itself, but was instead a side note about other cases being worked by the same lawyer/agent. Best of all, the note listed a pension application number for my ancestor, which is not currently indexed on Fold3 or elsewhere.  Score!!
Meanwhile, that little triumph didn't stop me from half-jokingly telling Angie Bush before the last session of the day that she needed to hire me to work on DNA for her because DNA is my jam, after which I promptly embarrassed myself later when I stared blankly at her like a complete idiot during a case study presentation because my brain had finally decided enough was enough and apparently powered down mid-session. Sigh. Making Great First Impressions since 1965.

Such is the cycle of these institutes, though. You come in so determined to wring out every conceivable ounce of knowledge while you can--and you DO--but eventually your body just needs a break (traitor!!) or else you have to slow down long enough to process everything you've recently learned so you can remember even half of it when you go home. It's a little like Education by Fire Hose. Still, I wouldn't change a moment because every time I attend an institute such as Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, I am reminded why I do what I do and I leave thoroughly fired up to keep doing it, even during those times when life tries to get in the way. Who could ask for a better gift?

After classes, I went up to my room to grab my coat before dinner and some quality time at the FHL. I glanced out the window and, to my surprise, saw mountains. Considering I'd been grumbling earlier in the week about not getting the mountain view room I'd been promised, this came as quite a surprise. I guess that's what happens when an inversion ends and clears away the clouds. Kinda poetic, when you think about it. We come here to climb the mountain, whether by trying to surmount some research obstacle or to continue our education so we can strive for the pinnacle of our profession, only to one day have the clouds clear and bring our goal suddenly into sight. What a perfect metaphor...and a much-needed boost out of my sleep deprivation (Zombie Achievement unlocked!!)

Hello, Mountains...how you doin'??

From here the rest of the week will no doubt pass in the blink of an eye, and I'll suddenly find myself on a long flight back to the east coast wishing it hadn't all ended so soon or that I could do it all over again.