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Thanksgiving 2005
Nov. 24th, 2005 10:55 pmTonight was really very cool. It was Thanksgiving with my dad's side of the family, which is novel for me in a lot of ways. My dad's side of the family, for the most part, is West Coast; they've diffused elsewhere in recent years, but for the most part, West Coast. My mom's side of the family is East Coast. Almost my entire life has been spent on the East Coast, with my mom's side of the family, and so I'm very familiar with them. My mom's side is a slightly younger family than my dad's side, too; where me and my sister are the oldest grandkids on my mom's side by several years, we're middling on my dad's side. Lots of my California Cousins are my age, if not a few years older than me.
I love my mom's side of the family. I really like my dad's side of the family, but I've never spent a lot of time with them; I don't really know them much at all. But I've always wanted to. Thinking about it, it's an odd sort of thing, this affection for people I hardly know. -laughs- But that's another story.
Tonight was great. Everyone was invited to come over at 1:00-ish, but Katie, my aunt, and her little girl Samy (age 11 these days!) came over early to help set up. Samy is one of the California cousins I know better than others, at least in part because (1) she plays with my little siblings when we visit, (2) I'm generally good with kids, and (3) kids don't intimidate me the way that peers do (true story). It was good to see her, and she's really mellowed and matured since she was younger (always a cute kid, she used to be such a brat sometimes). Later on my other cousins came; aunts and uncles in attendance included Mike, Paul, Chris, Jeannie, John. I got to sit and talk with Freddy (who's nearly exactly my age) for a long while about computers (my Major) and English (his major), which was really cool. I also talked with my cousin Kim (she just turned 24) about her nursing school stuff, which was nice. I talked a little bit with Dianna, and then some with Julie, and it was just really good. Like, I kinda know these people, but I don't, but I really care for them either way. I really wish I could spend more time with them; maybe I will in my next couple of years out here. And maybe we'll be able to keep in better touch; Freddy and I exchanged email addresses already.
My uncle John enjoyed the vast array of wines we had and proceeded, more and more as the night went on, to make a spectacle of himself. At first, me and a few other uncles/cousins had a chat with him about government and taxes and politics when he was still mostly-sober. Then he started doing card tricks after he'd been drinking for a while. A bit later, too drunk to walk very well without help (and he'd recently hurt his knee in a surfing accident), he took me for a tour of my grandparents back yard, telling me stories about when they planted the different trees back there, and put in the brick walkway one weekend when his parents were gone, and re-seeded the backyard for my grandpa; he was thoroughly toasted, but it was still really cool. Then he went off the deep end and proceeded to tell us about memoirs he his in the wall and a man who tried to rob him once and went through secret passageway and hid under a car; I was in stitches the whole time, it was great.
I love my family. I really, really do.
I love my mom's side of the family. I really like my dad's side of the family, but I've never spent a lot of time with them; I don't really know them much at all. But I've always wanted to. Thinking about it, it's an odd sort of thing, this affection for people I hardly know. -laughs- But that's another story.
Tonight was great. Everyone was invited to come over at 1:00-ish, but Katie, my aunt, and her little girl Samy (age 11 these days!) came over early to help set up. Samy is one of the California cousins I know better than others, at least in part because (1) she plays with my little siblings when we visit, (2) I'm generally good with kids, and (3) kids don't intimidate me the way that peers do (true story). It was good to see her, and she's really mellowed and matured since she was younger (always a cute kid, she used to be such a brat sometimes). Later on my other cousins came; aunts and uncles in attendance included Mike, Paul, Chris, Jeannie, John. I got to sit and talk with Freddy (who's nearly exactly my age) for a long while about computers (my Major) and English (his major), which was really cool. I also talked with my cousin Kim (she just turned 24) about her nursing school stuff, which was nice. I talked a little bit with Dianna, and then some with Julie, and it was just really good. Like, I kinda know these people, but I don't, but I really care for them either way. I really wish I could spend more time with them; maybe I will in my next couple of years out here. And maybe we'll be able to keep in better touch; Freddy and I exchanged email addresses already.
My uncle John enjoyed the vast array of wines we had and proceeded, more and more as the night went on, to make a spectacle of himself. At first, me and a few other uncles/cousins had a chat with him about government and taxes and politics when he was still mostly-sober. Then he started doing card tricks after he'd been drinking for a while. A bit later, too drunk to walk very well without help (and he'd recently hurt his knee in a surfing accident), he took me for a tour of my grandparents back yard, telling me stories about when they planted the different trees back there, and put in the brick walkway one weekend when his parents were gone, and re-seeded the backyard for my grandpa; he was thoroughly toasted, but it was still really cool. Then he went off the deep end and proceeded to tell us about memoirs he his in the wall and a man who tried to rob him once and went through secret passageway and hid under a car; I was in stitches the whole time, it was great.
I love my family. I really, really do.
