Family

When I signed up for Facebook earlier this year, I had no idea what a profound impact on my life it would have.  Sure, I anticipated meeting up with old friends, and was pretty sure that it would help me stay connected with my current circle of acquaintences, but I never gave much thought to the obvious: family.

I moved away from my hometown when I was 20 years old.  Unlike some, I generally didn't pine for my relations; in fact, I rarely thought about them.  I guess I saw life as one grand adventure and moved from place to place relishing the novelty of every new chapter.  I returned for my father's funeral, my grandfather's funeral, and then one last time to show my husband and stepchildren my hometown.  Beyond that, though, I never gave home or family a second thought.  Over the last 24 hours or so, I've been reminded that, no matter what the history has been or how disconnected you are, family is still that: family.

For whatever reason, I started searching for cousins on Facebook.  The first one I found was Walt.  Going back to memories from 10-years old, the only thing I could remember about Walt (or Wally, as we knew him then) was getting into some highly embarrassing screaming match with him at church.  That, of course, led to Aunt Joyce hauling him off by the ear and my own mother literally attempting to smack me into next Tuesday.  I don't think that incident set us up to be friends...at least not then.

But thirty years later?  I have all these warm, fuzzy feelings surfacing in my heart and am just about ready to buy a plane ticket back "home".  Conversations about Grandma's house, catching up with life stories, just the rekindled connection itself has led to the most enjoyable series of exchanges I've had in a long time.

Walt, if you're reading this...thank you.  Family's a good place to go.  Here's to the next 40 years.