It is like a journey in a foreign country, isn't it?

Sometimes, I divert to a far corner of my family tree just for a short visit. 

It is far from where most of my efforts are - validating what I know about my maternal and paternal grandparents and their parents - but I do from time to time to stay enthused.

In my research, I primarily use the huge databases at other connections Ancestry.com (who, as I have written before, does not compensate me for any of my work; my blog is not monetized and I pay for the membership) and from time to time, I am contacted by someone else doing research on their own family trees. Some of them think we are related and I have never found that to be true. 

But...

One fellow I met about 2 years ago keeps popping up because he appears to be related, though neither of us has figured out how yet. One of his close relatives is related to one of my grandfather's brothers. (I am not naming names to protect his identity; he does not know I write a blog and has not given me consent to include him.) 

This morning while I was scrounging around in that faraway, dusty corner of my family tree, I came across a name in my own tree who has his last name for the first time. You know the kind of "distant relative" because you have them yourself ... the daughter of the 2nd spouse of the son of my fourth cousin 3 times removed... 

My poor brain has no idea what to do with that kind of information, but the mere fact that I have seen a last name from modern time I recognize is enough to keep the spark going. Perhaps one day we will validate the information enough to call each other 'Cousin.'

It could happen.