There is a lot to be done before I make the move to Mexico later this month, and that includes saying good-bye to friends. I have already gotten together with several (a couple of whom I have written about here), and there are more on my social calendar in the coming weeks.
Yesterday I was invited to Sunday brunch at the home of my cousin Gail and her husband Wes. They have made numerous appearances on this blog. If you have been reading this blog since its beginning, you may even remember how we first met. In February of 2013, just a few months after I started writing this blog, I posted an entry about my genealogical research and the trip I made to Othmarsingen, Switzerland, the little town from which the Swiss branch of my family came. Gail, who has been avidly researching her family's genealogy for years, was on the internet looking for pictures and information about Othmarsingen. My blog appeared in her search. When she read my entry, she realized that we are related. Her great grandfather and my great grandmother were brother and sister, so we are third cousins. And then she realized that I live in the next town, just 2 1/2 miles from her. For years we had been less than ten minutes away from each other, and we never know of each other's existence. Of course, she immediately commented on my blog, and I was as amazed as she was. Ever since then, we see each other on fairly frequent basis.
You may also remember from this blog that we have traveled together a number of times. In January of 2017 I played tour guide to Gail and Wes in Mérida, Yucatán. Although they have traveled extensively, it was their first time in Mexico, and they loved Mérida. In August of 2019, we met up in Switzerland, and Gail had a chance to visit our ancestral town of Othmarsingen and to meet our Swiss cousins, whom I had already met on previous trips. Later, in November of that year, Gail and one of her college friends made a trip to Mexico City, and I showed them some of the sights.
Now that I will be living permanently in Mexico City, I hope that they will come visit me there... Gail for a return visit, and Wes for his first time.
My life, especially, is all the richer for having found you! You are one of the most interesting people I've ever met, and I wish you nothing but happiness even though you'll be more than 2-1/2 miles away!
ReplyDeleteThank you, cousin. And I am much richer for having found you. Hope to see you in Mexico again and on our future visits back to Ohio!
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