Author: Melissa Gerdes Zapanta

Blogger. Writer. Digital Creator. Published author, essayist, and poet. (Former journalist.)

Poem: In the Garden

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Previously published in the Licking River Review In the Garden Believing in the constancy of your love, Just as the blooms of the magnolia return each spring, Even after a long drought that was followed by a desolate, harsh winter. Your love would remain, withstanding any hardship. Believing we were timeless, transcending poor choices, Physical… Continue reading Poem: In the Garden

On Ancestry Hints I’m Skeptical to Use

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Those little leaves are tempting to just click and accept, particularly when they are connected to another's user's tree. Early in my ancestry research I accepted my mom's cousin's tree and the others that I found as vetted facts. I was humming along thinking it was great and simple and marveled at the progress that… Continue reading On Ancestry Hints I’m Skeptical to Use

The Holwadel’s and the Durbin’s – a short bio of John Edward Durbin

Melissa Gerdes Zapanta2 Comments

John Edward Durbin, born November 4, 1917, died October 28, 2002. When John was born in 1917, his father, John, was 33 and his mother, Mary Pauline (Daily), was 27. John was the third child of what would become nine children in the family. In 1920 the family was living in a tenement building at… Continue reading The Holwadel’s and the Durbin’s – a short bio of John Edward Durbin

Motherhood – the empty nest

Melissa Gerdes Zapanta2 Comments

Being a mother highlighted all my shortcomings and strengths, reordered all my priorities, made me care less yet care more about myself, and completely changed how I view the world - everything came about them. I thank God for the opportunity to have raised three amazing humans. They are grown and flown, but I am… Continue reading Motherhood – the empty nest