What do asthma, cell communication, good science, history, and genealogy all have in common? Research! And me. I’ve spent many happy hours engrossed in studying all of them.

For Mother’s Day, I bought myself a gift. Okay, those of you who are snickering, did you never buy yourself a gift? I thought so.

Anyway, I got a subscription to Myheritage.com. A site like Ancestry, but for those with European origins. I’ve found people going back to 1725! I’ve found the names of all the children my great grandmother lost before my grandfather was born. I found an entire branch of the family who were murdered in Auschwitz. And I found my dad’s aunts, uncles and cousins that came through his father, who died in 1942.

I’ve often thought how strange it is that, while I know my grandparent’s names, I didn’t know their parent’s names. But those people were important in their lives.

Anyway, having published Brave Face, the book about Mom’s childhood and finished writing Unforgivable, about Dad’s, I recently translated and read my grandmother’s wartime book. Since it has been out-of-print for a long time, I figured that it would make a great resource for writing about her life.

Then, how about writing about my mother’s parents? Of course, the further back I go, the more imagination is needed. But I can at least be historically accurate and glean what is possible from old documents.

So, if you’re looking for me, you’ll find me in my office. Doing research.