Dinner with Cousins, Nightcap with my Sister
Thanksgiving '24 Travelog #9
Back in Falls Church, VA - Tue, 26 Nov 2024, 11pm
As I write this I'm back at our hotel in Falls Church, VA. I'm even back in our room. You'll see why that matters in a moment.
After meeting one of our nieces for lunch and then going on an impromptu road tour along the Skyline Drive this afternoon, we met my cousin, Matt, for dinner this evening. Well, we didn't just meet Matt. His wife, Sally, joined us for dinner. We also met Matt's son, "Tank", who's now a third-year student in college. He's home for Thanksgiving break but wasn't feeling well enough to join us for dinner. Surprisingly, though, he was feeling well enough to twist our ears in a vigorous conversation before we left the house.
Matt is technically not my cousin but my first cousin once removed. That bit of relationship naming means that his mom is my first cousin. His grandma and my dad are siblings. Yet among all my cousins I always felt close kinship with Matt because we were so close in age. (It also helped that we shared similar intelligence and curiosity about the world.) Yes, we're in different family generations despite being only maybe 6 months apart in age. Matt's grandma, my dad's sister, was older than my dad and married and started her family early. Her kids also started their families young.
That all took on new relevance when I told Matt about my generational shock earlier this week when I confronted the fact that my younger sister is a grandma. I am a grandma's older brother. Matt was unimpressed because my younger sister, now a grandma, only became a grandma in her mid-40s. I'm in my early 50s. Matt's grandma became a grandma by age 38.
Anyway, Hawk and I had a good dinner with Matt and his wife. Well, the dinner sucked, but good company more than made up for the poor food.
After dinner we drove back to our hotel in Falls Church. Hawk stayed in the room as she had a 10pm Teams call to join for our HOA back in California. I headed up to hang with my sister, who'd been out sightseeing in DC all day with her family and a friend from high school days. She was tired physically but still engaged mentally. We chatted amiably for 45 minutes over a nightcap. Her husband daughter came home after that, having stayed out to catch a movie. When they came in they were wrecked. I took that as my queue to call it a night. Now I'm back in my own room, Hawk is done with her call, and we'll wind down so we can plan our own day sightseeing in DC tomorrow.
Back in Falls Church, VA - Tue, 26 Nov 2024, 11pm
As I write this I'm back at our hotel in Falls Church, VA. I'm even back in our room. You'll see why that matters in a moment.
After meeting one of our nieces for lunch and then going on an impromptu road tour along the Skyline Drive this afternoon, we met my cousin, Matt, for dinner this evening. Well, we didn't just meet Matt. His wife, Sally, joined us for dinner. We also met Matt's son, "Tank", who's now a third-year student in college. He's home for Thanksgiving break but wasn't feeling well enough to join us for dinner. Surprisingly, though, he was feeling well enough to twist our ears in a vigorous conversation before we left the house.
Matt is technically not my cousin but my first cousin once removed. That bit of relationship naming means that his mom is my first cousin. His grandma and my dad are siblings. Yet among all my cousins I always felt close kinship with Matt because we were so close in age. (It also helped that we shared similar intelligence and curiosity about the world.) Yes, we're in different family generations despite being only maybe 6 months apart in age. Matt's grandma, my dad's sister, was older than my dad and married and started her family early. Her kids also started their families young.
That all took on new relevance when I told Matt about my generational shock earlier this week when I confronted the fact that my younger sister is a grandma. I am a grandma's older brother. Matt was unimpressed because my younger sister, now a grandma, only became a grandma in her mid-40s. I'm in my early 50s. Matt's grandma became a grandma by age 38.
Anyway, Hawk and I had a good dinner with Matt and his wife. Well, the dinner sucked, but good company more than made up for the poor food.
After dinner we drove back to our hotel in Falls Church. Hawk stayed in the room as she had a 10pm Teams call to join for our HOA back in California. I headed up to hang with my sister, who'd been out sightseeing in DC all day with her family and a friend from high school days. She was tired physically but still engaged mentally. We chatted amiably for 45 minutes over a nightcap. Her husband daughter came home after that, having stayed out to catch a movie. When they came in they were wrecked. I took that as my queue to call it a night. Now I'm back in my own room, Hawk is done with her call, and we'll wind down so we can plan our own day sightseeing in DC tomorrow.