What a week

I hope everyone had an outstanding New Year. This post is going to be a little different than many of the others. Usually I tell you about my travails as a Dad of 3 daughters. Well, this post is a bit more about me and my family's trip to Colorado this week to find MY family.

Many of you know this story, so pardon me if this is a bit redundant. But for those of you who find the time to read this ( and I appreciate your willingness to do so), may not realize that I have never met my 1st cousins. My dad and my uncle became estranged several years ago with very little contact between the 2. Because of this estrangement, it became extremely difficult for me and my sister to contact them. In fact, I hadn't seen my Uncle since I was 6, and I couldn't remember ever seeing my aunt (she said she met me when I was 6). I have 4 cousins (3 boys, 1 Girl). that I had never met. Since my mom was an only child, and my uncle is my Dad's only sibling...me and my sister grew up with essentially NO extended family. To make things even more sad...both my maternal grandparents passed away before I was born, and I never met my paternal grandfather and only can recall meeting my paternal grandmother once or twice when I was very young. I have always been very jealous of those of you that had large families...there is something really special about being able to call a close uncle, or cousin and just talk, or hang out, and I never had that.

Anyway, through the magic of Facebook, I was able to connect with not only my aunt and uncle, but also all 4 of my cousins. It took some time and some coordination, but last week, we were able to fly to Denver and meet 3 of my cousins (one lives in the Bay Area and wasn't able to make it to Colorado), and reconnect with my aunt and uncle.

So...on Saturday, we are doing a little shopping in Denver and my phone rings. It is my aunt. I have to admit that my heart skipped a bit. I was actually nervous to answer the phone. Well, there was a very sweet voice on the other end who was just as excited to hear my voice as I was to hear hers. We made plans to drive up to Boulder a little later in the afternoon to meet, talk and have dinner. The drive from Denver to Boulder is about 25 minutes...I was pacing the hotel room like a caged tiger 2 hours before. I hadn't been this nervous in a longgggggg time. As we were driving, i was actually sweating (good think I was wearing a black shirt). All the time we were driving, I was thinking, "will they like me, will we have anything to talk about, will we sustain this new relationship" etc, etc, etc. Well, my worries were definitely unfounded. We drove up to the house and saw 2 of my cousins shoveling the walk (you don't see THAT very often in San Diego)...I got out of the car and gave my cousins a big hug and it was like we had known each other forever. Walking into the house was just incredible....seeing my uncle for the first time in 40 years was just a surreal experience. I remembered him as a brown haired young man...and here was this gray, long-bearded, distinguished Rabbi who just grabbed me and hugged me. To be honest, I was a little unsure of what to call him. I mean, he is my Dad's brother, but "Uncle" sounded a little weird. But when he hugged me, I knew that all was how it should be. I had my family back.

We spent the next several hours talking, laughing, eating, drinking and just doing what families are supposed to be doing. My cousins are terrific young people and I couldn't be prouder to be related to them. They are bright, confident, dynamic individuals who have amazing things in store for them...and I hope I can be a small inspiration to them. We went back to spend the day with them on Monday. Enjoying lunch, having coffee, taking silly pictures...doing what families do, It was an amazing trip.

Well, that's enough for this evening, I will fill in more details about the traveling in the newly high-securitized airport with 3 children, our trips to the snow and the rest of the vacation.

Thanks for taking the time to read about my little excursion. Have a great week and I will be back soon.

As always, pray for this DODO...and Peace.

Mike