Some quick thoughts on the fourth episode of WDYTYA

• Oh, tears and tears and tears at this one. I'm not a mother but my heart just went out to Kim Cattrall's mom and her two aunties, as she called them (so cute), as they told about how their family was devastated by their father's leaving, as they finally got the courage to find out what happened to him, how their hearts must have just broken at finally seeing a picture of him and seeing his happy little second family, and how they were finally able to get some closure.
• So often this show depicts stories of discovering brave or pioneering or groundbreaking ancestors being discovered, but the truth is that all families have those people who are just unlikeable, for whatever reason.
• Kim, like Lisa Kudrow last season, was interested in only one particular person, and a very recent person at that - our search for family isn't always in the distant past. Our parents and grandparents, just as our children and grandchildren, are also parts of our family history.
• As someone so interested in family records who thinks all sorts of documentation is just so important, I can't understand a person, like Kim's grandfather, who just did not want to be in any pictures. I have an aunt, my great grandfather's Aunt Hannah, who lied about her age all the time and went so far as to scratch out any dates on documents. As a family historian, I could strangle her.
• I was glad to see at the end of the episode that Kim's mom and aunties reached out to their half-siblings in Australia - I totally get Kim's not wanting to pursue it at the time, I think the whole journey packed a huge emotional wallop on all of them, but after letting things settle down for a bit, I'm glad to see they did that.
• I couldn't believe Kim Cattrall's accent - I know her primarily from Sex and the City as a loud and fabulous New Yorker and to hear her accent get even more British as she spent time in England was awesome.