Both of Us .org

This weekend we had a family reunion. Branches of the family tree were there with my paternal great grandfather as the trunk of the tree. I met several of my cousins and second cousins for the first time, and was happy to see the cousins that I have known and met before on many occasions. It was interesting to see familial resemblances on people I had not met before. There were at least 150 people at the reunion. This was by no means the complete family, but two of the three branches of the family tree were well represented. One branch was missing, that of my grandfather's sister, who the rest of the family has lost contact with. The gathering took place in a very small town in central Minnesota where my grandfather and his brother lived. My 92 year old great aunt was in attendance as the grand dame of the family, and I took great pleasure in asking her questions about my grandparents and about what my father was like as a boy.

The reunion was lots of fun, but it was also exhausting as we each navigated the waters of meetings people who we did not know, knew only from our childhood memories or knew well. Everyone was family and we were polite and inquisitive. Several people asked me if I were married and had children. I told them I was not married and had no children, but I was in a long term loving relationship with another man. I was prepared to shock some of my relatives with this information, but was pleasantly surprised that one seemed the least bit taken aback by this information. I felt like an outsider at the beginning of the gathering out in rural Minnesota. The two-and-a-half hour drive each way with my sister Lynda was really enjoyable and the day's events were yet another sign that I do indeed belong here in Minnesota with my family and friends.

We have new jobs and are buying a home and a car. Everything seems fresh and new again. We are rekindling friendships with old friends and spending more time with my family than we have been able to in the past few years. In short, our "long dark tea time of the soul" is over. This is a summer of growth and of refocusing our lives together toward a goal of not just a daily happiness, but also a forward looking brick and mortar building of our future together. Both of us enjoy our respective colleagues and our positions. I know I feel like a productive member of a team again.

While we miss our friends in Philadelphia, this was definitely the right move for us. In ten short days we will own a home and perhaps later this evening we will own a car.

JSP is on his way to pick me up, so I wish you dear reader, a good day.

If you are in the Twin Cities and believe in supporting local artists making local art, you owe it to yourself to see WEST BANK STORY. I went with a pair of friends to see it earlier tonight and I was really impressed and happy with the show. The City Pages Review of the show does not do it justice, but you can read it to get a feel for what is in store. Having lived in the tower (alternately called the "Crackstack" or the "United Nations") on the West Bank, I was really proud to see the wonderful quality of original theatre coming out of my old neighborhood. It almost makes me wish I was not moving to North East Minneapolis. Viva La Revolution on the West Bank!

As far as we know, and unless something goes terribly wrong at the inspection tomorrow, we are the new owners of a beautiful four bedroom, two bathroom home in NE Minneapolis. JSP signed the counteroffer that the owners gave us today. So we close on the house at the end of June and should be able to move in on July 1.

One of the things we knew we would miss about our South Philly digs was the close proximity to a wonderful Asian supermarket and the open air Italian Market. We purchased the bulk of our food at those two locations. Our new home has several nearby ethnic markets and supermercados, but we have not seen the inside of them yet.

We decided to celebrate the signing of our house buying contract by cooking a delicious stir fry this evening. Since we were in St. Paul at our realtor's office, we decided to stop by the Asian supermarket on University Avenue between Dale Street and Victoria. The store, Shuang Hur Supermarket was all that we hoped it would be. We purchased favorites like fresh snow peas, green onions, cilantro, spiced tofu, black bean and garlic sauce and a few things that we had never tried before including black rice macaroni and a new sort of almond cookie. JSP and I prepared our dinner tonight for four, including the two of us and my nephew and a visiting friend. We enjoyed the stir fry and look forward to cooking for friends in our new home.