Epiphany

It came to me in early June, just after we bought our beautiful new-to-us home: how to start Mary Davis’s biography. We’d been packing, unpacking, cleaning, and everything that goes with grandparenting, moving and dealing with a chronic disability. It had been staring me in the face for years, but I couldn’t see it. I don’t remember if it happened during packing or unpacking, sleeping or awake, cleaning our apartment or our home, or even in casual conversation, but there it was; just two words.

I already knew the what and where of every significant stage or event of Mary Davis Skeen’s life. She was born in Llanelly Wales, joined the Mormon pioneer movement, and settled in Weber County, Utah. She lived her whole adult life and died there.

I’ve had Mary’s story in my brain for nearly 24 years now, I studied everything I could find: genealogy records, local histories, maps, webites, photographs, blogs, videos, podcasts, and anything else I could get my hands on. I knew some things about Wales even before I found Mary’s story, but I just couldn’t pinpoint a good starting place.

I thought that I should just get back to my blog and put the story aside for a while