HA! Anyways, I just wanted to type up a quick post about my trip I took a few days ago because I need to share it.
So before I start this a quick briefing of my family situation. Since I was 3 I've only had one set of grandparents. When I was younger I had a lot of time and visits with my extended family which has been my uncle and 3 cousins on my dad's side and my aunt and 1 cousin on my mom's side (later it would be 3 cousins on that side). Well time and lots of circumstances made it so in recent years it was usually just my immediate family (and grandparents). So over the years I've taken up facebook stalking my cousins. I'm good at it. 5 years ago I had a chance to reconnect with the one cousin that I knew the best on my mom's side at an anime convention (go ahead and laugh). He was 23 and I was 17 so it was a good time but we both kind of had our own agendas. It was also the last time my mom and her sister got together and I got to see my two youngest cousins. End basic background story.
So a year ago (or so) I found out my cousin (one mentioned in the background story) was engaged. Pumped! He's a good guy and we've tried to actually keep in touch with each other over the past five years (instead of me just stalking). I got several texts asking our address and saying that he would love us to come to his wedding. The timing of his wedding was perfect. So I pushed for this to happen. I told my brother about it and he got psyched because he hadn't seen my cousin since my brother was 5, meaning he hadn't really ever met the two youngest cousins. So the roadtrip was set (and for all my NST friends - yes I got it okayed by my support coach).
So the road trip comes and surprisingly the 10 hour drive was not bad. At the wedding the first person we see is my cousin and he just hugs us all. He was beaming. It set the tone for the whole night. My mom found her sister and we sat with her in the front. It was fun to see my mom in a role I hadn't seen her in in a long time, that of a sister. We sat with my aunt and cousins (not including the bride and groom) at the reception and caught up. To talk about what we were all feeling would be impossible. But I was just so joyful to see him again, to actually meet my younger cousins again, to meet his wife. And of course it was his wedding day and you're supposed to be happy on your wedding day but there was just so much happiness I couldn't really get over it. It (to me) was a like a forging of a new family and a reunion of old.
And now we're left with an important step, follow-up. I realize this is a term I usually use in context of what I do with the Jesus Film, to make sure people get plugged in and don't just have a one time experience and never grow in it. But that is how I felt about this event. We got connected to each other. But we did that 5 years ago and nothing became of it except my cousin and I talked a bit more. But now we promised to make trips, to not lose contact. And I think we have a chance.
So that was my trip. For those who saw my facebook statuses and tweets you now have a small snapshot into why I posted them. It is a memory I'm glad I have and I pray it won't be the last.
Left to right: Brother, Cousins, Bride and Groom, Aunt, Mom and Me.
