Meeting the Family

The major driving reason for me visiting Ottawa was the chance to meet some relatives on my mother's side of the family - and i have been staying with my mother's cousin (my cousin, once removed) Diana - whom my mother made contact with a couple of years back whilst she was investigating the family tree. When it came to planning my trip here, a major factor in this was Easter - with Diana inviting her brothers and nephew for Easter dinner - which nicely gave me a chance for both me and my relatives to become acquainted. I have to admit that i was a little nervous and apprehensive beforehand but, thankfully, that abated quite quickly. Thus, i finish the day having met my first cousins, once removed (on my mother's side) and one of my second cousins. And very pleasant and friendly they are too.

When i think back to what i knew of my larger family, i was aware that i had some relatives living here in Canada (I also have some on my maternal grandmother's side) but contact had been lost many years back. Sadly, as so often happened in the 1900s, something happened that caused the split and there was, understandably, associated bad feelings that went with it. Hopefully, meeting my relatives here will allow some of that to be neutralised. And i certainly hope that i will have the chance in the future to meet these relatives again. Deep down, i am a family person at heart (one of the toughest things about being in the US is the distance from family) and I relish the chance to meet family - whether near, distant or very distant. After all, blood is thicker than water.