I've been writing about my "family of origin" lately, and realized that my dad's half-brother and his family were really not part of our lives when I was growing up. They lived just around the corner (in the country, so almost a mile on the road, but maybe a quarter as the crow flies.) The more I remembered about them, the more curious I got about why we didn't know them. But, I knew that Leland and Helen's daughter lived in St Paul and that her husband, Ole, worked at Hamline University. So, I googled him to see if he was still around. I found that he's listed as a chemistry professor there and has done considerable work with the St Paul school district to help science oriented students/graduates develop teamwork skills.
Eventually, I called to invite Jane Ann out for coffee to talk about our families and she made a counter-offer and invited me to dinner in a few weeks: tonight. We'd agreed to settle the details a little later, but when I didn't hear from her, I called yesterday and left a message, called again this morning and left another message. Maybe I misunderstood I thought. Maybe something important came up. Maybe she's in the hospital. You know, all the reasons that might explain. And, this afternoon, she called and said they'd been delayed up at their cabin,had just gotten back and she didn't have my phone number. I offered that she surely didn't want to have a guest tonight and she confirmed that. So, no family stories tonight, but we're going to try again soon. I have so many questions.
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