An update...
Well, things have certainly been... interesting. It's been good spending time with my cousin. There's not a lot of my family left and for a number of valid reasons I haven't really been close, or in touch with for that matter, with what little family I have left for a very long time. So when my cousin reached out to me, initiating contact and asking to see me, I decided to follow through.
I'm glad I did. She and I are very different in a number of ways. Politics are definitely off-limits for us to even consider as a topic of discussion as we are diametrically opposed in this area... except for a couple of specific issues. Very surprisingly, she is pro-choice and pro gay-marriage! Anyway, we've agreed to avoid talking about politics. But we do have very similar tastes in movies, TV shows, food, and music.
We've also been talking about family stuff. Which, truth be told, was one of the main purposes of the trip to see her. However, it hasn't turned out quite the way I expected it to. I had expected to explore certain things I don't remember about specific people/relatives, to fill in some blanks in my personal history. But in exploring some of these things, my journey has taken an unexpected turn down a different path. I've been discovering things about a different person... someone I thought I knew and understood... someone I thought I respected... someone I thought was a good person.
I'm angry, sad, hurt, and I'm worn out. It's going to take me quite some time work through this new information, because it relates to so many aspects of my life. *sigh*
~~~
My cousin, her husband, and I went out today. We went out to eat up in Chattanooga, TN. On the way back home, we drove through the town of Ringgold, GA which had been particularly hard hit by the tornadoes that ripped the South recently. I had considered taking pictures with my phone, but when we stopped and I took in the damage, I just couldn't make myself take any pictures. There are more than enough pictures available online of the rubble and devastation the tornadoes left behind.
I grew up in Tornado Alley, in Iowa, but there really aren't words to describe what I saw, or what I felt today. It literally sent shivers down my spine. I'm so thankful that my cousin and her family, as well as my girl and her family were unscathed by the tornadoes that ripped through the South.
This entry was originally posted at http://dhamphir.dreamwidth.org/201569.html.