Day 369
Day #2 of the Garage Sale! Although we didn't sell everything, we had some great experiences! Ranger and Lilly would disagree! They were relegated to the yard next door and yearned to be right in the action! We pacified them with DQ Pup Cups and all was forgiven!
I was down the block visiting with other Garage Sale Victims when I received a phone call from a relative I have never met! I recently wrote about meeting a 3rd cousin at a jewelry store when he spelled his last name aloud to a clerk. "F-A-R-R-I-E-R." That caught my attention and I zeroed in on the young man! Fast forward to today when my 2nd cousin (the young man's father) called to say he was at our garage sale! I rushed home for fear he might leave and I would miss my chance to meet him!
When I arrived, there he was...arms open wide for a cousin's first hug! Surreal! What a gift to meet a wonderful relative for the first time at my age!
We chatted about our past and numerous relatives we both knew. Then, we addressed the "Elephant in the Room" (or on the driveway)! Why did it take all these years to connect? Growing up, our matriarch, my grandmother, would spit her holidays between the families. There was never a time when we had the opportunity to see other branches of the family and, as children, never questioned that. Was it simply too many people to gather or was there another reason we were all kept separated? The generations who might know the answer to that question are all gone, so we can only guess. Whatever the "secret," we are glad to have found each other and will make sure that our connection strengthens!
There is just something about family...those who share the same genetics...that is a special bond. When meeting my cousin, John, I recognized so many Farrier traits! I also felt an immediate connection to this man! I am still smiling form the encounter!
Sadly, there are family members who have decided, for one reason or another, to pull away from the entire group or just a few. My reaction to that is, "Life is too short to keep loved ones at arm's length". Nothing should be so critical in nature to turn one family member from another and yet it happens over and over. Perhaps, it is simply that family members have unrealistic expectations for one another. When there is a rift, it is magnified by the fallacy
that blood relatives should never make mistakes. Sadly, those relationships might never be repaired and a hole remains in the heart that could have been mended.
As for me, I am going to embrace the fact that I have just added to my family! Whatever the reason for the rift generations ago, we can now gather together as "one big happy family!" Thanks to a serendipitous meeting at a jewelry store, I got my first hug from my cousin today. What a gift!
