Ancestral Address Book?

I was sorting through piles of 3 x 5 cards today in preparation for my trip to Saint Paul. I might take all of them, if only to fill the stage around my feet with a fidget-friendly prop. 

One of the piles collected descriptions of Hybrasil-themed merch I want to one-day fill the den with, making it a SoCo - style boutique of Sky Mall - level genius. All items aligned with our mission, of course!

One was for an "Ancestral Address Book", which I imagined as a less neurotic way to visualize one's relations, both living and deceased, with space in each entry to note preferred rituals, favorite songs, taboos, and catchphrases.

I love a good family tree, or, I want to, but frankly they've always stressed me out. 

The blanks are so glaring, the branches so quickly crowded, and meanwhile, equally human people get edited out of legible memory if they never marry or 'fail' to have kids...

In an alphabetized Address Book, with photo pocket inserts for prints and newspaper clippings, every member of the family would have the same status. You could even write in chosen family -- non-blood relations -- and weave them into your intimacy index as a magical act. 

You could file people under a nickname for a while, if you need to clean the relationship with a harmless, humourous shift. 

If you were vastly multi-ethnic you could see the far-flung sides of your family jumbled up together on every page, rather than held apart by oceans in your mind. 

And if like so many of our compatriots you were someone who didn't know your ancestry at all, you could spend your lifetime taking down the artists and storytellers who ignite the imagination in what you do know about your history, and what about that resonates with you.

I'm glad we agree to take things one step at a time, but I just want to say I'm SO excited for all the possibilities Hybrasil House lays out for us. Building a magical space, with magical objects like this hypothetical book to share ... Just imagine the conversations we'll never even hear -- fun, beautiful ways to shift the way we think.