Friday Funny - It's the Resources, Dummy! #SMDH

One of the first hashtags I saw on Twitter really confused me at first: #SMDH. It always seemed to come after a tweet that was silly or ridiculous and when I figured it out, I did it myself: Smackin' My Darn Head. Heh. You know that moment where you see something on a document you've had for five years and is a link to ten other things, or you realize the resource that you needed was right at your fingertips all along. Like that... SMDH.

That was me yesterday. I had one of the worst technology days. Ever. I have a very important self-imposed deadline fast approaching, and yesterday was the day I was going to complete two cornerstone projects. As things got progressively worse through the day and I realized I wasn't just going to not finish one, but BOTH, of these projects I just wanted to quit. 

Of course, someone came to my rescue to remind me that I'm always cheering everyone else on and that I needed to stop, take a breath, and work on something else to get the ball rolling again. I tried a variety of non-genealogical tasks just to shake things up a little but even those didn't work. Ugh! What was going on!! (Don't get me started about the fact there was a full moon and solar flares.)

So, I decided to hit my Social Media sites to see what everyone was up to and a tweet caught my eye. It was Caroline Pointer (@FamilyStories ) making a comment about Orange County, California Death Certificates. As those who are following the blog know, my (E)Stella Wersel died in OC. I've been having one heck of a time trying to figure out how to get the probate record from 1965 that  covers the processing of her estate and the 27 heirs to whom it was disseminated. When I called the Superior Court of California County of Orange the nice person who answered the phone told me to send a letter and they'd get back to me. Uh, really? Oh, what I would give to get my hands on that Probate Record! You'd think the State that's the home to Silicon Valley would be at the forefront of technology, but sadly it just isn't. 

So, as I was sitting there tweeting back and forth with Caroline, I had the SMDH moment. I think I actually DID smack my darn head. I have a cousin who lives in Orange County. A Mormon cousin. I have incredibly fond memories of her from my childhood. As I sat at my computer, I thought to myself, 'Why the heck didn't I think of this months ago?!!' I hopped on over to Facebook and sent my cousin a message: could she/would she be able to go to the Orange County Court to see if they have a record? It literally was only a minute later she messaged me back to say that she'd be happy to help me out!! #SMDH 

How often have I tried to ram through a problem when the resource was right there in front of me? Too many times. Sometimes, you just have to go with the flow and let the information come to you when it's ready. To say I'm excited about finding out more about my Stellas is a huge understatement.  Hopefully, crossing my fingers, I'll know more soon!