Serendipity

This has been a magical week around here. Powerfully good things have happened. I keep rolling them over in my mind … like a shiny soft stone picked up on a beach …

The first was finding a new first cousin. NEW! She’s new … and she’s the same age as me … 60! Really – a marvel. She had a very happy childhood – adopted into a good family – lots of love – a very busy and involved life. She is even a grandmother. She got wondering about her background. And as DNA testing is now something you can send off in the mail she registered for one of those services that will give you information on your heritage. She also ended up finding some siblings on her mother’s side – and a whack of cousins on her father’s side. That is our side.

I think I would be presumptuous to post her picture here … or her birth father’s… Just let me say that the resemblance is heart warming. He was not able to have children as his life went along. Not for a lack of trying or hoping. He was a gentle giant of a man. Usually the quiet one sitting aside in noisy gatherings of his four sisters and their kids. I am so happy that the world has gone along with a piece of him pointing toward the future! And how fun to have found out she is there. We are planning a cousin’s meet up with her. Wow … DNA testing … databases that point you to your family connections…

The second piece of magic involves finding senior’s residences for our aunt and uncle. It has been a bit sobering learning about the systems … or sometimes lack of them … for senior’s care. Our aunt has been working very hard over the past few years to downsize. And she was well aware that she was in the beginning stages of dealing with dementia when she asked my sister and I to stand in as her legal power of attorneys. This week they were touring senior’s residences and putting their names on waiting lists … At least that is what we thought they would be doing.

Instead – they have each found a place to move into NOW! In great spots! As in between now and October 1st. Soooooooo fortunate! My sister and I found ourselves chuckling and wondering just how the rest of the family (she is the last of five siblings) managed to pull strings from ‘above’ to move heaven and earth to make this happen. RELIEF! Good homes!

So … not many pictures to post to go along with this post. Just MANY MANY FEELINGS OF GRATITUDE!