Yesterday, a host of family members gathered at my house for a celebration. Almost all of them were originally from my home state, West Virginia, and are now scattered to the winds. In attendance were my parents and sister from Florida, uncles and aunts from Florida and South Carolina, an aunt still in West Virginia, a cousin from the greater DC area, a cousin from San Diego, and some local cousins as well ... also friends who are local but share a WV tie, friends who are still in WV, and friends who live among their houses in FL, NC, and Colorado. It was a host of fun!
One uncle brought letters that I had written to him as a child, including one in which I referenced receiving a letter from "Chip," who said I was pretty. The funny thing is that no one can remember who Chip was! I was probably 6 at the time and must have been some kind of heartbreaker!
A friend whose five children I babysat (starting at age 11) told my daughter a story of getting my mom drunk when I was three. Mom had been nervous about leaving me with her mom while she went out to party. She ended the night saying, "Well, she's 3 years old, she can take care of herself." Today, my daughter reminded me that if I could take care of myself at 3, then, certainly, she can walk around the block at age 9.
Until a governor changed it (and it may have changed back since, I just don't know), every entry point to West Virginia bore a sign that read "Welcome to Wild & Wonderful West Virginia." I think I should have made t-shirts about my Wild & Wonderful family, welcoming them to CA. For now, we have some great pictures and some great memories, and, most importantly to me, my kids spent most of a day with people they don't usually see, getting some insight into what my tighter-knit life, closer to family, was like. They loved it, and so did I.
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