cousins – Mr Knitter

M and I went for lunch on Thursday with two of my cousins, and all our dogs. We have a pub that is totally dog-friendly, even to the point of bringing a bowl of water for them to the table. I had scampi, M lasagne, and the girls had nachos and chicken and bacon salad. I was driving so had zero alcohol beer which was delicious and seemed no different than normal beer in taste.

Our topics of conversation ran the gamut from them being related to John Lennon (I much prefer Yoko Ono), my Nan’s crochet and embroidery, more of that in a later post, and my asshole father, again, more of that in a later post.

My dogs were very excited needless to say, but in the end, I had to put them back in the car (sunroof open and all windows cracked open too) so they could calm down. Harper was overexcited, but she tends to be like that when she comes into some of the shops too, yes, we live in quite a dog-friendly place. Where I grew up all the pubs were dog-friendly, but being int he middle of a farming community it was expected, sometimes people had their horses with them. I digress. Rosie the other dog was very well behaved, apart from having a growling moment at my dogs for no reason. The had all been on walks together with no problem and happy to play together.

It was nice to catch up with them again, and more so that M got to meet them. He has met one other cousin of mine, but as that side of the family is estranged most of my dad’s side are still standoffish, that is down to him, again, more of that in a later post.

One of my cousins has been undergoing breast cancer treatment, and now finished, she attends the hospital for follow-ups and treatment of side effects, pains in extremities etc., so it was a little surprising to get home and in my email box was one from LoveKnitting.com about knitting for Breast Cancer Haven. 100% of the sale of the patterns got to the charity, so I decided I would make two hats, one for my cousin and the other I would donate to Breast Cancer Haven for another patient going through treatment. I decided to go for the Plum Tart Hat by Rosee Woodland. I messaged my cousin asking what her favourite colour is and that all would be explained in time, she said mostly reds and a little lilac. I have bought two shades of Willow and Lark Ramble yarn which is 100% merino wool, which I love to work with. I have ordered two shades of red, one called Ox Blood and the other Cranberry. When I have finished them I will give her the choice and the other I will donate. I picked this hat out of all the patterns because it had more of a cable design to it, and I thought it quite stunning. When I have the yarn I will take a pic of it to show you all, and of course, when I have finished each of the hats, do a show and tell too. Oh, and if you were wondering, my cousin loves hats and wears all kinds, this being due to losing her hair.

Over the last 4 years I have met up with lots of family members I never knew (my Mums birth family) or had not seen for 30+ years (cousins, uncles and aunts), today I got to meet my cousins who I have not seen for 40 years. Only due to Facebook was this possible, I had added cousins, uncles and aunts there and my cousin Gail messaged me a few weeks ago asking if I was the little boy she remembered from all that time back. She asked if I fancied meeting up and having a catch-up and she would bring her sister Lorraine with her. Today was the day, and I had a lovely afternoon chatting and recalling things from when I was 8 years old, I even told them where I remembered their house was, their Dads speedboat colours and many many other things. They were both amazed at the fact I remembered so much from all those years ago.

We talked about family, how my Dads family were estranged due to his lies, telling them we had moved (my Mum still lives in the same house and has done for 46 years) and telling my Nan not to make contact with us. Like me, their opinion of my father is also very low. I was saddened to find that their Dad had died in 1999, but glad to hear their Mum is still alive and living in the same house I remember from my childhood. My Nan was their Nan’s sister, so we talked about both of them and the legendary parties their Nan had at new year. We shared stories of our memories when we all went on holiday to Devon and Cornwall which was quite a thing as there were so many of us there, usually my family, my Nan, their Nan and Granddad, their family, my uncle and his family and another of my uncles, so we are talking 18 people, our dog Kimmy and some years more, so it was quite an event.

Lorraine had to go to the Dentist at 5, so I took Gail home and met her husband and kids, so again more connections added to my family tree. Both girls live around the corner from where I was born and lived as a toddler, and not far from my aunts where we spent lots and lots of time from when we were kids to my late 20’s. The coincidences were in abundance, and we think that we would have passed each other many many times, but never known it. Gail and her husband also go to the pinewoods all the time, so it is possible that we have passed each other again, but never known it.

We have vowed to keep in touch and to meet up again in a week or so and bring our spouses with us, and when they are going to the woods to let us know and we will meet them down there and our dogs can meet too. This seems like the first of my family that genuinely want to keep in touch, and we are planning to go and visit their mum as a surprise too.

So today’s reunion has been a good day all round and I am looking forward to the next chapter.