I do not believe in accidents. Things happen for a reason. I am sure of this. But sometimes the "coincidences" that occur in our lives really are amazing. Today I have been sorting through my boxes and drawers of family history files to try to put them into some kind of order. Tucked down in the side of one of those files was a letter I received from my uncle, Bob Krebs, at least 12 years ago. Scratched on the bottom of the letter is a name and phone number for a cousin of ours who lived in Las Vegas at the time and was interested in family history.The name was Fred Ferrell, someone I remember very well. About 2001 I had an opportunity to visit with Fred in Phoenix when we got together for a family gathering and to share records. I also got to know his mother well, Bertha (Bert) Krebs Elwing. Some time after our initial meeting in Arizona I visited her again at her home in San Diego. I have a picture somewhere of the two of us together taken at the San Diego Zoo.
"Aunt Bert" was the sister of my maternal grandfather, Louis Krebs. She provided me with several wonderful pictures of her siblings and told me stories about the family that were very precious to me. However, since I have moved about five times since our visits I had lost touch, and wasn't even sure if she was still alive. (She is, now 94!) Because of all my many transitions I figured the chances of Cousin Fred still having the same phone number my uncle had given me all those years ago were somewhere between slim and none, but I decided to take a chance. Fortunately for me, not everyone is as much of a tumbleweed as I am. Fred not only answered the phone after just a couple rings, he immediately remembered who I was, even though we have been out of touch for quite some time. Then, as we talked I told him of a friend of my husband's who also lives in Las Vegas, someone we have just recently learned was living there that we hope to track down. My cousin Fred immediately knew who I meant, and had in fact PLAYED CARDS WITH THE MAN just the week before. They happen to attend the same ward. What are the odds of that??? So now I am thinking there is a trip to Las Vegas to be planned in the not too distant future so my beloved can reconnect with his boyhood pal and I will be able to make contact with my family. This is just one more proof to me that doing family history work will bring blessings IN THIS LIFE as well as in the world to come.
It really is a very small world!
