Saturday, July 22, 2006

goin' for it

My uncle (dad's youngest brother) got married for the first time three weekends ago. My grandfather lost his first wife, my dad's mother, to cancer when my dad was about 10 years old, and my uncle is from my grandfather's second marriage. Consequently, Uncle Dan is only 8 years older than I am and was more of a big brother to me growing up than an uncle; in fact, I've never actually used the word "uncle" when addressing him.

I used to spend a lot of time at my grandfather's house growing up, my babysitter was my grandfather's niece (got that?) and my uncle was the closest playmate to my age. Course it didn't hurt that Dan was pretty immature for his age, playing basketball and Fischer Price Little People with me until far past the age it was still cool to do so.

Dan would ply me with Hostess Ho-Hos late at night and bribe me to tell immediate family "secrets" with these tempting treats, something I still have trouble refusing at 7-11.

Dan never had a serious girlfriend until he met his now-wife, something that earned him endless amounts of ridicule among his siblings, half or otherwise. Even family members didn't believe him when he started saying she was different than other girls he'd dated. So because of this, and a couple of other factors, including the fact that my immediate family is pretty much ostracized from the rest of my dad's family, we never met Dan's "serious girlfriend."

When they announced their engagement last year, we figured it was about damn time we met this mystery woman who was finally getting Dan to settle down at the age of 35. Mind you, my uncle only lives one city over from me and about 30 minutes south of my parents, so to have not met her by this point was getting to be a bit ridiculous. Dan threw a party in May while I was in Texas, and my sister, mother, father and sister's bf finally got to meet her.

The results were mixed, but of course that left me, the only person in my family, immediate and extended, that hadn't met her. And to form my own opinion, of course, because really? My family likes people less than I do, and that's saying something.

So I got to meet my new aunt at her wedding to my uncle. I literally saw her for the first time as she was walking down the aisle. (This is how my family rolls.)

Imagine my surprise when I discover at said wedding that she is my age.

My aunt is the same age as I am. Actually, she was born the year after I was, making her (slightly) younger than I. For some reason this just trips me out. Not in a bad way, either. It just makes me smile that he's found someone that happens to be my age.

3 comments:

  1. Yeah, the Coke in Europe is made with actual sugar, instead of corn syrup like it is here.

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  2. I think it's nice that some people don't care about age that much-unless he is rich or something it sounds wonderful for him.

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  3. I believe that the decade rule applies to most couples... and they make it. It's nice when people finally find someone they really love.

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