Liv's Tree House

As a child from a split home, I have the great blessing of having twice the grandparents, twice the love, and twice the ancestors' stories to tell. Thus Marion and Erma Bennett Winn are the subjects of my week 3 post for #52Ancestors.  As soon as I heard the topic of the week I immediately thought of my great grandparents, on my step-dad's side, affectionately known as Grandma & Grandpa Great! Marion and Erma were both raised in Idaho, born in the early 1900's, then married in 1924.  They became my Grandma and Grandpa Great in 1985 when my parents married that July.  The Winn family was fast to embrace my sister and me as their own, which is a tribute to their wonderful legacy of love and support.  Fast forward to the turn of the century when Allstate Insurance Company reached out to this now aged couple.  The company had performed what they called a nationwide search for the "longest married couple in the United States", and had found Marion and Erma to be ...

So I come from a split home, but only sort of, because I was only one when both my parents got remarried so I never really felt the affects of the divorce.  It was more just a two family world for me.  In my world it was 2 families, 2 Christmases, 2 birthday’s, no problem!!  Obviously there were some challenges related to the situation but no more than your average kid.  In a lot of ways I feel like it helped me to be more well rounded, and I knew from an early age that people have different beliefs, standards, and traditions, and I’ve never really struggled to accept that.  That said, I was blessed with a whole lot of love given the circumstances.  My step parents were both always good to me and their families were always completely welcoming and loving.  My step-dad literally took me in as his own, and given that I lived with he and my mom for the most part, it made me feel like I had a normal family.  Now that’s just my background for the purpo...