So, I’m passing the summer here in Oshawa and getting ready for the fall term at Durham College. I’m all set up for school in September. I found out about two of my textbooks. Both of them are around $175, which will make them the most expensive books I have ever bought. On of them is the textbook for my General Education elective: Children’s Literature! (All part of my fiendish plan to learn storytelling. 
)
But there has been a lot going on this week…
Tuesday I went to my aunt’s funeral near Tobermory, Ontario. My aunt was my father’s older sister.
I got a lift to the funeral and back from Newmarket with my cousins, including cousins I’d never met before. It made for a long day though, as I was on the first bus from Oshawa to Richmond Hill, then to Newmarket for 8AM… and I was on the second-last bus back.
But I got to reconnect with all sorts of cousins. One cousin is now working in advertising in the City. I met my other cousin’s kids, most of whom are now married. I awkwardly reconnected with another cousin. Because when we were kids my aunt lived in Germany, and then later on the West Coast, and even later up on the Peninsula, I never saw them frequently, and never really got to know the later generations of the family.
My sector of the family may have been distant, but my aunt was always welcoming. Two Christmases ago I drove up there in a borrowed car, and we had a wonderful Christmas. Various cousins were there, and my aunt and cousin even made me a pair of festive red-and-green plaid pyjamas…
My aunt had 5 kids, 11 grandchildren, and by now 11 great-grandchildren. She was 89.
Wednesday I got a birthday card from my sister with $50 in it! I was able to go over to Value Village and snag a new pair of jeans for $9.99. And I went shopping with the Filipina classmate who I’m quite interested in, but she’s not interested in me. But we hang around sometimes, and we get along well.
Thursday, the 8th, my 50th birthday, I went to French group in Newmarket. This time, there were few beginners and I was able to speak a lot of French.
Friday was an interesting day. I went to Peterborough to meet my friends who have the solar-powered house. Apparently that business is starting to take off, and they want a web page…
Then I dropped in on L, an acquaintance who runs a store in Peterborough. I met her when I was in electronics school–a friend of a friend–but I hadn’t seen her since around 1990, just after my sister died. She’s Vietnamese, very beautiful… and, when my friend and I met her, married. (Alas…) My aunt (my mother’s sister) in town also knew her and visited the store.
I thought L wouldn’t really remember me, and there would be an awkward introductory scene, but she recognized me instantly as I walked in the door, in about a tenth of a second. She was startled, and then happy and excited to see me. (Seldom have I seen such a demonstration of lack of face blindness…)
We ended up talking for an hour, past my planned time to be at my aunt’s house. L is a few years older than me. The 13-year-old daughter who I remember helping out in the shop is now 36, married with a daughter. (!) The son I never met is now studying animation at the same college I am at.(!!) She asked all sorts of questions about how I was doing, what were things like in Oshawa and Whitby. It was like we just became friends at hyper speed, after all these years of being semi-distant acquaintances. I never would have recognized her though; the dark-blonde hair piled on her head and shoulders would have totally thrown me.
She’s still smart and beautiful. Don’t know whether she’s still married, though. I never asked. She tends to derail my train of thought. By which I mean (in the phrase that Terry Pratchett used to describe a memorable character), she derails the train, rips up the tracks, burns the stations, and demolishes all the bridges along the right-of-way… she’s got to be in her mid-fifties, and she still has that effect on me…
After I left the store, I walked across Peterborough to my aunt’s house. Fortunately, the things that my aunt had to do took longer than expected, so we both arrived at around the same time. Aunt Nicky and I had a great visit. We discussed going to see my sister for Christmas. We just have to figure out how to afford the trip…
My aunt has been thinking a lot about the future, and I don’t think she’d object at all to moving up near my sister. I think she’s feeling a bit lonely where she is… she’s the last one of my mom’s side of the family left in Peterborough.