But I found out a lot more tonight. Well, sort of.
I was doing some research through my school’s library databases, and when I disconnected from my ISP, there was a message on my voice mail. It was just this woman, who left her name (that I didn’t recognize) and her phone number along with “please call me”. I wondered for a minute if it was about one of the resumes I’d sent out, but realized that it was a local number and there haven’t been many local job openings recently. Since all my bills are up to date and I knew it wasn’t a bill collector, I called.
Turns out that she’s my father’s cousin, who happened to be looking someone else up in the phone book and saw my name (my last name is very unusual. Typically I’m the only one in the phone book when I move to a new city, unless there’s a known relative living there. If there is another one, s/he is generally related somehow). Well, her maiden name was the same as my last name, so it caught her eye and she called.
So we talked for a while, and we’re going to have lunch one day. I’ve never met anyone on that side of the family other than my father’s sister, her family, and my father’s mother (by the time I was born, she had divorced and remarried, so, while I knew that grandfather, I never knew my father’s father).
It’s strange to have contact with a person that’s related to you but you don’t know. There were moments I didn’t know what to say - but she was so excited to talk to me that it still makes me grin.