Unexpected Expansion
At 27, I married and was warmly received by my wife’s local, highly connected and kind family. Coming from a small dispersed family it was a happy expansion and a new unexpected experience.
Thirty four years later, my wife, daughter and I went to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving to meet my son and his new fiancé, Sophie. Sophie’s family was getting together and it was an opportunity to meet her parents. Unexpectedly, it turned into a wonderful expansion of family. To have this after so many years was really great. I hadn’t thought about it until it happened creating a happy surprise.
Aunt Harriet, 91, hosted a feast for forty of multiple generations of siblings and cousins. We were greeted warmly and everyone made it a point to introduce themselves and welcome us. A personal highlight was spending some time with Mendel, a holocaust survivor who still bore the numerical tattoo on her wrist. It was a marvelous evening filled with laughter. Subsequently, Sophie’s parents rolled out the red carpet showing us LA and hosting a personal dinner in their home. We left feeling connected and looking forward to the next time we got together. A few pictures of our trip below.
Earlier in the month we had another happy expansion. Our other son and his girlfriend invited us to vacation with them in the Canary Islands. So we said yes and went. I figure hanging on to family is just as important. When your children, who are off being independent ask you to join, it’s important to be with them. The Canaries were good not great so probably not looking to go back. We also stopped in Birmingham, England on the way home to spend a little more time with them.
It was a fantastic November, because of the family we have and new family we will have. A marvelous turn of events we wouldn’t have expected in October.
R1T Tour 