Cartographic Heritage

Today is my Grandpa Gene’s birthday. He died back in 1993, but would have been 91 today. I think a lot of who I am today comes from him – his love for books, history, language, and Scandinavian furniture are all part of my daily life, and I will always be grateful for the time I got to spend with him. He left behind a lot of mystery and sadness in my family, but he also left a well-documented life of adventure, passion, and love.

Visiting my grandparents when we were kids, my sisters and I loved all the collected treasures of a life on the ocean that were displayed on the walls and in nooks and crannies of his Seattle home. There’s a lot of posts I could make and things I could write about him, but today I think I just want to share one of my favorite bits of his life – a map he carried with him on his travels around the world as a sailor. I own a lot of maps, but none of them mean as much to me as this one, simply because it was his. This one was part of his personal papers that he left with my mother, along with journals and poems and photos – he was blogging way before computers – and I’ve often wished he was around to share in some of the adventures I’ve enjoyed in the last few years, especially with Amy and the kids. Mostly I’m just grateful for his influence and memories and inspiration. There’s still a lot of his writings and things that need to be scanned and saved, and I’m looking forward to it.