Saturday, part 1: *The* cousin at *the* party
I was the lone representative from my part of the family at my cousin's graduation party yesterday. At least my grandma was there, too, and she brought her friend along; I spent a lot of time talking with them, which was nice. Basically everyone else there was from my cousin's congregation, and pretty much they all knew each other, but I did talk with some of them and overall had a nice time.
Thankfully the weather held out; while there were bad storms early in the day, the sky cleared for a while and much of the party was outside--that is, until it got really buggy. Ugh. I felt bad in that my cousin didn't get too many physical gifts, but thankfully he took a joke gift really, really well--a little kid's Strawberry Shortcake bike, complete with tiny bike helmet and SS backpack (filled with actual gifts, at least). Hey, a guy his age needs his own wheels, right?
I got to meet the family's new dog, who is about a year and a half, but not the cats, as they're stranger-averse. I also got to meet my oldest cousin's boyfriend; mom had asked me to take a picture of them together, and they obliged. The fun part of the day came when one of the guests brought entertainment--she and her father breed sugar gliders, and she'd brought both of them with, with one each in her shirt pockets. The male glider, though a little scared, was okay with being held and petted; the female stayed in the pocket much of the time making this unhappy trilling noise. Every so often you'd hear it and know that's where the friend was, though at one point it happened outside and the friend was nowhere to be found; ah, that must be her father. Sure enough. That added some amusement to the day.
Like I said, most of the people knew each other already, so I generally introduced myself either as so-and-so's cousin or niece. Since my aunt is from Poland, and all of her family is in Europe, I'm literally the only first cousin in America. So then I ended up being *the* cousin. It's too bad we haven't spent that much time together, but I did get to talk to the honoree a bit; he's a good kid. And I also found out that they're planning on having a family dinner once my grandfather gets out of the hospital--and there was a rumor that it could happen as soon as Thursday (!)--and I think that would be really nice, since I didn't get to visit with them much. But, for my grandfather's sake, I'd rather it be later than sooner so that he can recover some more.
Thankfully the weather held out; while there were bad storms early in the day, the sky cleared for a while and much of the party was outside--that is, until it got really buggy. Ugh. I felt bad in that my cousin didn't get too many physical gifts, but thankfully he took a joke gift really, really well--a little kid's Strawberry Shortcake bike, complete with tiny bike helmet and SS backpack (filled with actual gifts, at least). Hey, a guy his age needs his own wheels, right?
I got to meet the family's new dog, who is about a year and a half, but not the cats, as they're stranger-averse. I also got to meet my oldest cousin's boyfriend; mom had asked me to take a picture of them together, and they obliged. The fun part of the day came when one of the guests brought entertainment--she and her father breed sugar gliders, and she'd brought both of them with, with one each in her shirt pockets. The male glider, though a little scared, was okay with being held and petted; the female stayed in the pocket much of the time making this unhappy trilling noise. Every so often you'd hear it and know that's where the friend was, though at one point it happened outside and the friend was nowhere to be found; ah, that must be her father. Sure enough. That added some amusement to the day.
Like I said, most of the people knew each other already, so I generally introduced myself either as so-and-so's cousin or niece. Since my aunt is from Poland, and all of her family is in Europe, I'm literally the only first cousin in America. So then I ended up being *the* cousin. It's too bad we haven't spent that much time together, but I did get to talk to the honoree a bit; he's a good kid. And I also found out that they're planning on having a family dinner once my grandfather gets out of the hospital--and there was a rumor that it could happen as soon as Thursday (!)--and I think that would be really nice, since I didn't get to visit with them much. But, for my grandfather's sake, I'd rather it be later than sooner so that he can recover some more.