Just a little family party with cousins (and cicadas)
My California cousin came into town last Thursday. She usually comes around Father's Day for whatever reason, mainly to visit her mom, but also to see whatever family is around. She'd let me know back around Easter, maybe, that she was planning to visit and I made sure to hold open the weekend. Her sister then reached out a couple weeks ago to confirm the date, and my parents and I were available, so there you go. We were about it, though; my Kankakee cousin had other plans and went to a family reunion with his mom's relatives. Aside from three family friends, that was it.
It was a big day for my car: This was the first time anyone had ridden in the backseat, and it was the first time both of my parents were in it together. Mom spent much of the ride trying to get me to take them/her on a road trip. She wants me to drive them to the casino in Michigan, but taking a longer route so we can make stops. After years of taking 294 to work because it was faster, she no longer wants to be on there and, if she visits her mom, has been taking surface roads. I don't blame her as 294 is under construction as you get close to O'Hare and it's been terrible. Of course, that adds 15-30 minutes of travel time, but oh well. Anyway, she was trying to figure out a good way to get to Indiana but either her route takes the tollway, or she could only get walking directions of all things. That would take a week, by the way. Yeah...no.
Only three of the kids were around for the party, and only my goddaughter was around to start. She has started seeing someone, and for all intents and purposes this is the first person she's seen since she separated from her husband during covid. It's probably because she actually has time now. She recently started a new job and it's five minutes from the house. Her old job was up in Lake County and took her a good hour and 20 minutes when traffic was cooperative. It took her three hours to get home during a snowstorm. So that, and bad management, led her to leave. She sounds like she's enjoying it overall and it sounds far less stressful. Her new friend seems nice, and given how chaotic my cousin's family can be, he seemed to take things in stride. I appreciate that. Also, my goddaughter is always hungry, and there were a few times I went, are you sure you're not blood related to my mom? My mother is obsessed with food and always wants to eat.
I may have mentioned that our house is cicada-free. Our subdivision went up in 1990, two cycles ago, and all that churning of soil likely killed any cicadas that might have made an appearance. On the ride over, though, once we hit Warrenville, we could hear them. The sound pretty much didn't stop until it got dark outside; we left the house about quarter to two. I also took a direct hit on my windshield as we drove through the forest preserve near my cousin's house, and I didn't try to clean it off until we left, so now I have this big smear on my windshield from the cicada whacking into it. Speaking of, I got whacked in the face by one. My cousin showed me her "cicada bush," which is this several foot tall bush near an outdoor seating area. In the past, the leaves have been covered with cicadas, but all I could see were a few empty shells. I ended up sitting near the bush while talking to some of the kids and eventually, smack! One got me on the left side of my face just below my glasses, near my eye. Another kept trying to get my ankles, but otherwise they left me alone.
I spent a while talking to my goddaughter, her brother, and her boyfriend; eventually the youngest child came over. I wasn't sure what she's been up to lately but she is in school and taking some classes at the community college. I've long seen her as someone who could be a makeup artist. At one point she must've said she wanted to be a dermatologist, but she said that takes a lot of schooling and she wants to make money before she's 30. She's currently 19. So, she wants to get into real estate and interior design, and she wants to flip houses. She'll be taking an interior design course next school year. She's an enigma, really. One minute, she will sound pretty intelligent, and then the next, she's telling me she loves history and can talk about presidents but then couldn't name any of them that came up correctly. Hmm. And when the friend asked her who Winston Churchill was, she couldn't answer. (He was like, I love history, don't think you can fool me here.)
After a while, I ended up at the outdoor table with my parents, aunt, and California cousin. The family friends pretty much just stayed to the little outdoor kitchen seating area, talking with my cousin's husband. I recognized one, TT's godmother, as I saw her a lot when the kids were small. The other I know more by name but realized she's been my cousin's friend for decades. I think this friend got married last year and the girls took a road trip to Florida for her wedding. (I completely did not recognize the husband, and they arrived just before us and the guy was outside my cousin's house and I was like, who the heck is this person? I may not have seen him before, actually, but it was weird to go to a family party and be like, you ain't my family...who are you...) Since my life is just work and band, I started telling some band stories, and my dad started talking about the Fourth of July concert and the 1812 Overture and the cannons, and he pulled up the video he took from last year's concert, and this is how I found out he's planning on coming to this year's concert too. Good to know. We then talked about schlepping chairs and things to shows, and how at a venue near her she's gotten to the point where she'll just buy a seat there; she doesn't want to carry a chair anymore. I hear that.
Mom had made these cookies that had pine nuts and almond paste in them, and we found out that my cousin's husband couldn't eat them. He is in late-stage kidney failure; next step: dialysis. Therefore, he's on a strict diet. He kept asking, can I eat this? Can I eat that? He suffered a severe workplace accident and was on painkillers for that, but the drugs damaged his kidneys. I'm glad his family is aware of his food needs and that he's willing to follow the diet. There are several categories of foods he needs to avoid, and some of them would seem to be healthy otherwise--bananas, almonds, black pepper. It was quite the interesting list. But he was able to have pizza, so he had dinner. I went wild and ultimately had two pieces, though the second piece was at least an hour later than the first.
We hadn't planned to stay super late, but the next thing we knew, it was nine o'clock. That's when SJ got off work, so we were able to see her for a little bit. We didn't take any posed pictures, but my California cousin snuck in a candid shot while we were outside, and I snagged a few just before we left. It was a nice visit and relatively calm, plus we had beautiful weather. Yesterday was the last of the 80-degree days; it's supposed to be in the 90s all week. It was earlier today, though we had strong winds and then rain come through around dinner time. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be up near 100F.
It was a big day for my car: This was the first time anyone had ridden in the backseat, and it was the first time both of my parents were in it together. Mom spent much of the ride trying to get me to take them/her on a road trip. She wants me to drive them to the casino in Michigan, but taking a longer route so we can make stops. After years of taking 294 to work because it was faster, she no longer wants to be on there and, if she visits her mom, has been taking surface roads. I don't blame her as 294 is under construction as you get close to O'Hare and it's been terrible. Of course, that adds 15-30 minutes of travel time, but oh well. Anyway, she was trying to figure out a good way to get to Indiana but either her route takes the tollway, or she could only get walking directions of all things. That would take a week, by the way. Yeah...no.
Only three of the kids were around for the party, and only my goddaughter was around to start. She has started seeing someone, and for all intents and purposes this is the first person she's seen since she separated from her husband during covid. It's probably because she actually has time now. She recently started a new job and it's five minutes from the house. Her old job was up in Lake County and took her a good hour and 20 minutes when traffic was cooperative. It took her three hours to get home during a snowstorm. So that, and bad management, led her to leave. She sounds like she's enjoying it overall and it sounds far less stressful. Her new friend seems nice, and given how chaotic my cousin's family can be, he seemed to take things in stride. I appreciate that. Also, my goddaughter is always hungry, and there were a few times I went, are you sure you're not blood related to my mom? My mother is obsessed with food and always wants to eat.
I may have mentioned that our house is cicada-free. Our subdivision went up in 1990, two cycles ago, and all that churning of soil likely killed any cicadas that might have made an appearance. On the ride over, though, once we hit Warrenville, we could hear them. The sound pretty much didn't stop until it got dark outside; we left the house about quarter to two. I also took a direct hit on my windshield as we drove through the forest preserve near my cousin's house, and I didn't try to clean it off until we left, so now I have this big smear on my windshield from the cicada whacking into it. Speaking of, I got whacked in the face by one. My cousin showed me her "cicada bush," which is this several foot tall bush near an outdoor seating area. In the past, the leaves have been covered with cicadas, but all I could see were a few empty shells. I ended up sitting near the bush while talking to some of the kids and eventually, smack! One got me on the left side of my face just below my glasses, near my eye. Another kept trying to get my ankles, but otherwise they left me alone.
I spent a while talking to my goddaughter, her brother, and her boyfriend; eventually the youngest child came over. I wasn't sure what she's been up to lately but she is in school and taking some classes at the community college. I've long seen her as someone who could be a makeup artist. At one point she must've said she wanted to be a dermatologist, but she said that takes a lot of schooling and she wants to make money before she's 30. She's currently 19. So, she wants to get into real estate and interior design, and she wants to flip houses. She'll be taking an interior design course next school year. She's an enigma, really. One minute, she will sound pretty intelligent, and then the next, she's telling me she loves history and can talk about presidents but then couldn't name any of them that came up correctly. Hmm. And when the friend asked her who Winston Churchill was, she couldn't answer. (He was like, I love history, don't think you can fool me here.)
After a while, I ended up at the outdoor table with my parents, aunt, and California cousin. The family friends pretty much just stayed to the little outdoor kitchen seating area, talking with my cousin's husband. I recognized one, TT's godmother, as I saw her a lot when the kids were small. The other I know more by name but realized she's been my cousin's friend for decades. I think this friend got married last year and the girls took a road trip to Florida for her wedding. (I completely did not recognize the husband, and they arrived just before us and the guy was outside my cousin's house and I was like, who the heck is this person? I may not have seen him before, actually, but it was weird to go to a family party and be like, you ain't my family...who are you...) Since my life is just work and band, I started telling some band stories, and my dad started talking about the Fourth of July concert and the 1812 Overture and the cannons, and he pulled up the video he took from last year's concert, and this is how I found out he's planning on coming to this year's concert too. Good to know. We then talked about schlepping chairs and things to shows, and how at a venue near her she's gotten to the point where she'll just buy a seat there; she doesn't want to carry a chair anymore. I hear that.
Mom had made these cookies that had pine nuts and almond paste in them, and we found out that my cousin's husband couldn't eat them. He is in late-stage kidney failure; next step: dialysis. Therefore, he's on a strict diet. He kept asking, can I eat this? Can I eat that? He suffered a severe workplace accident and was on painkillers for that, but the drugs damaged his kidneys. I'm glad his family is aware of his food needs and that he's willing to follow the diet. There are several categories of foods he needs to avoid, and some of them would seem to be healthy otherwise--bananas, almonds, black pepper. It was quite the interesting list. But he was able to have pizza, so he had dinner. I went wild and ultimately had two pieces, though the second piece was at least an hour later than the first.
We hadn't planned to stay super late, but the next thing we knew, it was nine o'clock. That's when SJ got off work, so we were able to see her for a little bit. We didn't take any posed pictures, but my California cousin snuck in a candid shot while we were outside, and I snagged a few just before we left. It was a nice visit and relatively calm, plus we had beautiful weather. Yesterday was the last of the 80-degree days; it's supposed to be in the 90s all week. It was earlier today, though we had strong winds and then rain come through around dinner time. Tomorrow, it's supposed to be up near 100F.