Family reunions in the 21st century

I’m sure more than a couple of you noticed that I up and disapeared mid-last week and only reappeared yesterday.

I just plumb ran out of time to tell y’all that I was whisking myself away to the middle of nowhere (just outside Vanderhoof) to a family reunion over the long weekend.

The trip was fairly uneventful, and everyone was far better behaved that anyone expected. Except me of course. I went and put my foot in my mouth within 30 minutes of arriving, and managed to say something that sounded like me calling someone fat right to her face. (Obviously I was trying to say something completely opposite.) Oops.

I think my attempt at damage control worked – and there wasn’t really any resulting drama that seemed to linger over the rest of the weekend.

There was one funny incident however, that never would’ve happened before the internet.

If you google my full name (which some family member did) one of the first results that come up is a letter to the editor that I wrote to The Peak – the SFU student newspaper – when I was still in University. It was in response to an article featuring another female student; I was disagreeing with her entire point, and the fact that she used the plight of a marginalized group that she isn’t a member of to help make it.

Turns out the point-maker I berated in my letter is my 2nd cousin’s niece.

Or, if anyone would like to do the math and figure out the relation, she is my dad’s mom’s sister’s daughter’s (dad’s cousin’s) husband’s sister’s daughter (dad’s cousin’s niece by marriage).

I don’t think that technically makes us related.

Good thing too – because after everyone had a laugh, and her aunt confirmed that she is indeed still the basket case I assumed she was in my response, the conversation dwindled and a comfortable hush fell over the crowd.

And in the silence, Neil – looking contemplative and a little creeped out – volunteered that when in university, less old and certainly less wise, he had dated her for a not insignificant period of time.

All in the family indeed. Thanks Google.

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