I’ve done a bit of digging around my family tree and have learned some things. Here’s five of my most fascinating ancestors*.

1. Frances Fenton, who got her PhD in 1910 from the University of Chicago.
2. Jean Tatlock, who allegedly had an affair with Robert Oppenheimer and was a total communist.
3. John Fenton, who fought in the Revolutionary War.
4. Fenton St. Clair Butterfield, who was married in 1863 but I cannot find any death or divorce records from that wife…but he married my great-great-grandmother in 1881…
5. Hyman Gindich, who left Kiev during the Russian pogroms in 1906.

*Ancestors I did not know personally. Both of my grandmothers were pretty kickass.

I’ve been dating for almost 30 years, but it’s a Saturday night and I am dateless so why not pick at that emotional scab a little? During the summer of 2010 I wrote extensively about my best and worst dates. You can check out the archives for those if you are so inclined.

But I’ve logged eight years of dates since then. Here’s a condensed and updated list of my five best dates, in no particular order.

1. When we met for a late lunch and ended up talking for four hours in the restaurant.
2. When we sat on the hood of his jeep and looked at the stars and talked.
3. When we laid on opposite ends of the couch reading books and occasionally talked about what we read.
4. When at the end of the night he apologized for not talking as much as usual; “I couldn’t stop looking at you. You’re just so beautiful,” he explained.
5. When after dinner he made me laugh so hard I couldn’t breathe.