I have been doing genealogy since 1999 when a coworker took me to the library after I told her I was curious about my father. My father was an only child to older parents (who passed when I was very young) and he passed early. I knew very little about that side of the family. That, combined with the curiosity of what I thought was unique surname (Poland), is how I got started.

In 2002, I was at the NGS conference in Milwaukee, WI when I met Bruce at his vendor’s booth. He was selling his new software RootsMagic. I purchased my copy and fell in love. I used it for the next several years. I was on version 7 when I purchased my advance copy of version 8. Like so many others, I was very disappointed with how long version 8 took and the number of bugs it went live with. I tried out Family Historian and FTM for the next few years, but with version 11, I’m back at home with RootsMagic. I’m much impressed with the improvements and I pray I’m not disappointed again. It’s a lot of work to switch between software programs! I look forward to learning all the new tips and tricks!