Posted onAugust 11, 2020|Comments Off on Officially Getting A New Cousin (or A Zoom Wedding)
There are so many things that we are doing these days that nobody would have expected to do before the pandemic. Virtual hangouts are so common that many people have Zoom fatigue. Even though I know people have live-streamed weddings before, that’s usually done for people who couldn’t be there (like how my grandparents watched my brother’s wedding on Facetime because they couldn’t fly). But now, if you are getting married almost everyone has to be on Zoom. And that’s exactly what happened with my cousin’s wedding.
My cousin Danny and his partner Alisa have been together for a long time. And from the day I met Alisa, I have felt like she was my family. She and I always call each other cousin, even though it wasn’t official. But it was official enough for both of us. Even though we felt like we were already family, I was so excited when Danny and Alisa announced their engagement and so it would be official!
I don’t know how big of a wedding they had been planning on having, but I do know a lot of things had to change because of the pandemic. They were keeping their original wedding date (August 8th), and they just had to make adjustments to keep things safe. So they had only immediate family in person at the wedding and everyone else watched on Zoom. I was very ok with that because that meant I got to watch it and that’s all that mattered to me!
The wedding was pretty early (since they are on the east coast and it was a morning wedding for them), but I was happy to be up and watching it. And since the Zoom was just for us to watch (and not them to see us), it didn’t matter what we looked like while watching. And it made me so happy to get to be a small part of their big day!
Everyone looked beautiful and I was smiling the entire time while I was watching. The camera running the Zoom stayed in the same spot the entire time, so we didn’t get a lot of close up looks, but soon after the wedding was done some photos were being posted online and I could see more of Alisa’s gorgeous dress!
I’m so happy that Danny and Alisa got married and Alisa is officially my cousin now! And I’ve already told her that when things are safer again that they need to come to CA to visit us so we can have our first official family hangout! I’m looking forward to that!
I’ve seen people joke about having Zoom bingo with checking off how many things you’ve done during the pandemic. I know Zoom wedding or baby shower has been on every bingo chart I’ve seen. So I guess now I can check off Zoom wedding!
While the main event of my trip to Maryland was the family reunion, I also had all day Sunday there to spend with everyone. I started my day on Sunday with breakfast at Maria’s Love Point with my mom, dad, brother, and sister-in-law. I can’t speak highly enough about Maria’s Love Point. My family were the only guests there so we had some really personalized attention. We had such an amazing breakfast every day and they asked us what we liked so they could make us things we would want. Every breakfast was fantastic and I’m just glad I didn’t gain a ton of weight from the trip!
After a relaxing breakfast at the B&B, we got into the car to head over to my Aunt Susan’s house where most of the family was gathering for breakfast and family time. It was a pretty short drive from where we were staying to her house, so everyone who was there was still there when we arrived. This was the first time I had seen my aunt’s house, so I got a quick tour from my dad and then spent the rest of my time there hanging out with my cousins.
I really was just so grateful that I’ve gotten to know my cousins as adults. I’ve had the privilege with my cousins on my mom’s side, but I see them every year. It’s not really possible for me to go back east every year or for my cousins to come to CA every year so our time together is really special to me. My cousin Danny is working on his PhD right now and he and I got into some really smart conversations. He sent me a couple of papers he’s worked on and while I knew he was smart I had no idea that he was that smart!
My conversation with my cousin Rachel, Alisa, cousin Janis (Rachel and Leah’s mom) and my mom was actually about childbirth and all the craziness that goes with it. I was the only one in the conversation without kids, but it was still fun hearing everyone’s stories. I’ve heard my birth story from my mom a couple of times, but it was fun watching my cousins listening to it and having their stories to share too. And while we had that conversation, everyone was taking a turn with Alisa and Danny’s brand new baby Hendrix (he was only a few weeks old). Everyone wanted to hold him because he’s just so cute, and finally I got my turn.
I’m so happy that I got to meet Hendrix, but I’m sad because I have no idea when I’ll see him (or Sebastian, his older brother) next. I’ve already been bugging Alisa and Danny that they need to come out to the west coast for a trip, so hopefully they will come visit soon!
After a few hours at my Aunt Susan’s house, it was time for us all to leave. My family headed back to the B&B where it was so hot out that the only thing we could think to do is to get back into the pool.
As you can tell from my photo, I got a bit of a sunburn while in Maryland. Only the parts of my body that were out of the pool (including my knees) got burnt and thankfully the sunburn is starting to fade now. I tried my best to protect my skin but I’m wondering if the humidity affected how the sunscreen worked on me. And yes, that is the bathing suit that I bought for Hawaii.
The pool was perfect and we spent a long time in there just hanging out as a family and enjoying our trip. It was nice to have some relaxing time together and I’m glad that we weren’t crazy over-scheduled while we were there.
After some time in the pool, we all got ready for dinner. We went out to a restaurant that was right on the water and we had a gorgeous view from our table.
After a nice dinner together, we headed back to the B&B and we all started packing to get ready to leave the next morning. My brother and sister-in-law were heading to Washington D.C. the next day and my parents were meeting with some friends to go camping. I had to get back to LA to get back to work, but it was nice that we were all leaving at the same time.
The next morning, we all headed to the airport together. The train station (for everyone else) was right next to the airport and we tried to arrange all of our transportation to be around the same time. I was the first one dropped off since I was flying and had to get through security. So I said goodbye to my family and headed into the Baltimore airport for my trip home.
I had 2 flights to get home with a few hour layover in between. My first flight was pretty uneventful. I had my window seat and the flight was full so every seat was taken. I spent most of my time reading my book and taking really quick naps (I think I slept for maybe 5 minutes at a time). My layover was spent getting some lunch and doing more reading. But when I got on the plane, I discovered that my seat was upgraded a bit!
Since I booked my tickets for this trip back in January, I’ve had several flight changes for my flights home. I think at one point I was getting flight or schedule changes every day. At one point, my new flights only had a layover of 30 minutes. I wasn’t ok with that so I called the airline to change it. I guess when I changed my flight but asked to keep my original seat number I got upgraded from economy to the fancier economy section!
The section I was in was only 3 rows of seats so it felt nice and small and I didn’t feel overwhelmed or panicky at all. I had a window seat with a ton of leg room and there was nobody sitting next to me so I stretched out on the flight.
It was so worth it to have the slightly upgraded seat (I would have loved to have been in first class, but that wasn’t in the cards for me), and I think having the extra room in front and next to me really helped to make this flight the most calm one I can remember having. If I have the option to upgrade to the nicer economy seats in the future (which I usually can’t do since I fly Southwest), I think I’m going to splurge on it because it was so much better for my mental health. I really am so happy that my flights were calm and I didn’t even take my meds for it. This is huge progress for me and I’m hoping that future flights go just as well.
Between the drive to the airport, my flights, my layover, and the time to drive back home I had traveled for 13 hours to get back to LA. The trip was totally worth it and I wouldn’t have changed any of it, but I was happy to be home.
I really hope that these family reunions will be more often in my future. I don’t want it to be another 5 or 16 years before I see people. I really do love my family and I want to be in their lives and not just through Facebook. Hopefully some of them can come out to visit me soon or I will have an opportunity to get back east again in the near future.
As I’ve mentioned, this past weekend I went to Maryland for a family reunion. I know it’s a bit crazy to fly back east just to be there for the weekend, but I had limited time I could take off and being there for the weekend is better than nothing!
My trip began on Friday (I was able to take both Friday and Saturday off from my box office job) when I flew to Baltimore. I was able to get on the same flight as my brother and sister-in-law so that was nice. Our flight was a bit delayed, so we grabbed some lunch at LAX before getting on the plane. It was a super packed flight and we couldn’t sit together, so I spent my flight reading and trying to not panic (I didn’t take any panic meds and I did great!).
When we landed, we got a cab out to Stevensville and arrived at Maria’s Love Point (the bed and breakfast my family was staying at) after midnight. We were all pretty tired so all we did was say hi to my parents, find our rooms, and go to bed. My room was perfect for me and I fell asleep pretty quickly that night (thankfully no jet-lag for me).
The next morning I woke up and had an amazing breakfast (seriously, Maria’s Love Point was the best B&B ever!) and went exploring around the B&B with my family. It was crazy hot and humid but we did want to go outside to check out the amazing view that the property had.
There was a dock that went out into the water and we walked out to the end and back. I was shocked to see that the water was filled with jellyfish! Everywhere you looked you would see them so I was glad I was up on a dock and not walking along the edge of the water.
That day was the family reunion, but since it wasn’t starting until 1pm we tried to relax that morning. We all ended up spending a bit of time in the pool to try to beat the heat, but we were so grateful that the B&B had some really powerful air conditioning when we needed to cool off more inside.
The family reunion was actually held at Maria’s Love Point, so that made things pretty convenient for us. We hung out in the pool until about noon and then we all started getting ready. It was being catered by a local restaurant and it was being held in a big room on the bottom floor (it was supposed to be outside but with the extra high temperatures and humidity we ended up moving it inside which was best).
I was pretty excited for this reunion! I went to the last big family reunion which was 16 years ago (half of my lifetime ago) but I hadn’t made it to any of the smaller reunions in the years since. I saw my aunt, uncle, cousin, and cousin’s girlfriend 5 years ago at my brother’s medical school graduation; but I hadn’t seen them since. I was in touch with a bunch of family through Facebook, but that’s not the same.
This reunion was a reunion of cousin’s on my dad’s mom’s side. It was my dad, his siblings, his 1st cousins, and all of the 1st cousins’ kids and grandkids. We were only missing a couple of people there but we had 30 cousins from 3 generations all in one place which was incredible!
It was really great seeing people again for the first time in years and I even got to meet some cousins that I had never met before! It was a bit overwhelming, but I think we were all thinking that so there was no awkwardness at all.
Even though I was super excited to see everyone, I think I was extra excited to see my cousins that I’ve been closest to over the years. My cousin Leah (who I believe is technically my second cousin but we always called her my third cousin) and I were super close as teenagers. She came to stay with my family for a month for a couple of summers and I stayed with her family for a few weeks one summer. She even came out to California (she lives in Pennsylvania) for my Sweet 16. We were pen-pals for a couple of years and we see each other on Facebook, but the last time I saw her in person was 16 years ago at that reunion. Since then she’s gotten married and has 2 kids!
I was also super excited to see my cousin Rachel (who is Leah’s sister). She and I weren’t as close before as Leah and I were (Leah and I are only a few months apart and Rachel is a bit younger), but we’ve stayed in touch through social media and we’ve got similar personalities and senses of humor. I know if we lived closer to each other that we would be super close and probably hanging out quite a bit. She’s also had a kid since the last time I saw her.
And Alisa is my first cousin Danny’s girlfriend. Before this reunion, I had only seen her once in person 5 years ago my brother’s medical school graduation. At the time, she was super pregnant with their first kid. She actually had him a few days after I met her. And since then, she and Danny have had another baby. Again, we see each other online all the time and we’ve become very close, but it had been years since I had seen her in person.
The four of us were hanging out quite a bit at the reunion and I had to get a selfie with my amazing cousins. None of them are my first cousins, but that doesn’t matter. I love them all so much and I am so incredibly lucky that I get to have them as my family.
5 years ago (when I last saw Danny and Alisa), we got a picture together since before that trip it had been over 10 years since I had seen Danny. Ross, Danny, Alisa, and I got a quick picture after dinner and I’ve loved having that picture. Since we were all together again, we had to recreate the photo with the 2 babies (one of whom is technically in that first picture in Alisa’s belly).
I have to say, I don’t think we’ve really changed that much in 5 years!
Sadly, the reunion had to come to a close around 6pm. I loved spending time with everyone, but we only had the space for a certain time and we didn’t want to take advantage. There was still more family time (more on that tomorrow), so it was only goodbye for the night.
While my parents, brother, sister-in-law and I were relaxing that evening; we found out that the house next to the B&B was throwing a huge party that night and they would be having a fireworks show. They do this party once a year and it happened to be the night we were there! So after it got dark, we all headed out to the patio to check out the show from the next house.
By the time the fireworks were done, all of us were pretty tired from the big day and we all headed back to our rooms to get a good night sleep before the next day (and my last full day in Maryland). And I’ll write about that tomorrow!
Today is my parents 32nd anniversary. It’s also my cousin Adam’s 32nd birthday (yes, he was born on my parents’ wedding day). But sorry Adam, the focus on today’s post will be on my parents (but I’ve included you a bit at the end!).
For my entire life and in all my memories, my parents have been happy. Of course, there have been some sadandstressful times, but those have always been from outside circumstances and not from issues between my parents.
The fact that my parents have always been happy is probably why I’m so picky when it comes to dating. I’ve seen what a successful relationship is like and I don’t want to settle for anything less.
So in honor of my parents’ anniversary, I went through the photos I have and found some of my favorite ones. Mom and Dad, I want you to understand the effort it took for me to find photos of just the two of you and not with other people or with a dog (seriously almost every photo I have of you both is with a dog!).
This picture is obviously from my parents’ wedding. I happen to have this one in my computer because I needed it for an anniversary present I made for my parents on their 25th anniversary (Mom and Dad, this blog post is your present this year. You know all about my lack of funds right now). I will never fit into my mom’s wedding dress (not only do I weigh more, I’m too tall), but my mom and I discussed randomly one time about me using parts of her wedding dress to incorporate into whatever wedding dress I buy when I eventually get married. So maybe one day, that dress will be part of my something old.
This photo is one that I took when my parents were about to go to the prom that my dad’s hospital throws every year. The background behind them is a fountain at my parents’ house, and I remember insisting on taking a photo of them before they left for the prom. Plus, there are very few times that my dad wears a tux, so I wanted photo evidence of it.
This photo is from my brother’s college graduation at USC. I used this photo along with their wedding photo in the anniversary present I made years ago. I just think it’s a nice photo of my parents.
Of the photos I was able to find of my parents by themselves and without a dog, a majority of them came from my brother and sister-in-law’s wedding (and our week in Maui). This photo was taken on our first day in Maui right after we got to our rental house. Of course after traveling, the first thing we wanted to do is relax by the pool.
This was from one of our neighborhood walks in Maui. I think it was a retaining wall from a house on the same street as our rental house. My parents have a friend who enjoys seeing hearts in nature, so my parents made me take this photo so they could share it with their friend. I also like how my mom is standing on a step so she looks the same height as my dad.
This might be my absolute favorite photo of my parents. This was from the wedding (and possibly after a few drinks). I don’t remember ever seeing my parents dance before (I don’t know where I would have). And they were being so silly and fun. And considering that this was taken right before my mom had to start chemo, it reminds me that even when things are going to be stormy ahead, there’s no reason not to fully enjoy life every second.
I hope you all enjoyed seeing these photos of my parents.
And just so my cousin Adam isn’t completely left out, this is my favorite photo of Adam with our cousin Stephanie’s son Dalton. This was at Thanksgiving in 2007.
So happy birthday Adam and happy anniversary Mom and Dad! I hope all of you have awesome and amazing days today!
Posted onApril 17, 2014|Comments Off on Passover (or A Family Reunion A Decade Overdue)
Monday evening was the first night of Passover. Even though both of my parents are Jewish and I went to Hebrew school for a few years, I don’t really celebrate any of the Jewish holidays. I went to a Passover Seder a few years ago that a friend did, but she and I were the only Jews there.
A little over a month ago, my mom was talking with her cousin who lives in LA and somehow I came up in conversation. My mom mentioned how I still live in LA and her cousin had no idea. I had seen her years ago, but she just thought that when I finished college I had moved away. So as soon as she realized I was still here, she invited me to Passover dinner.
I was really excited to get to see my second cousin again. The last time I saw her was right after my hip surgery, and I hadn’t seen her siblings (my other second cousins) in possibly over a decade. That’s a little ridiculous when we all live in LA.
I was a little nervous when I got there because I wasn’t sure how it would be with family who were practically strangers to me. But as soon as I walked inside, I was welcomed with open arms. My cousin Wendy, who was hosting the event, was so happy to see me again. She was asking me all about my life and as soon as other guests arrived, she made sure to introduce me to them right away so I didn’t feel left out.
My second cousins Randy and Craig were also there with their families. I had met Craig’s wife before but I don’t know if I had met Randy’s wife in the past. And I had never met any of their kids before, so I got to meet 4 new third cousins that I didn’t know existed!
Dinner was great. I was seated next to cousin Wendy so that was very nice. And I got to catch up with all the other family at the table. Also, pretty much everyone there was either in the entertainment industry or knew a lot about it so that dominated a lot of the conversation.
We did a semi-traditional Seder. We went over the Seder plate and the plagues and said some of the prayers, but we didn’t do a full Seder. But that gave us more time to catch up.
I had also brought the wedding album my mom made of Ross and Krystle’s wedding, so all my second cousins wanted to see that and see other family members (they haven’t seen anyone from my section of the family for a very long time).
Before I knew it, it was time for all of us to go home. I exchanged numbers and email addresses with my second cousins and I’m hoping that I can get to know them even more and make sure that it’s not another decade before I see them again.
But before we all said goodbye, I made sure we all got a picture together so I could show my mom.
It was really an amazing evening. I feel like I’ve gotten to reconnect with a section of my family that had been lost to me in the past. I know it’s nobody’s fault that we all fell out of touch and hadn’t seen each other in forever. But I’m going to make it my responsibility to make sure that I get together with them more often now.
Posted onDecember 2, 2013|Comments Off on Thanksgiving (or I Am The One Who Gave The Kids Face Paint)
As I mentioned before, Thanksgiving was going to be a little weird for me. I was the only person from my immediate family there, and I was staying at a hotel alone (which I don’t really like anyway).
The morning of Thanksgiving was pretty low-key. I hung out in my hotel room and watched the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. I usually watch clips of it on YouTube after Thanksgiving, but this was the first time I watched the entire thing on TV. That was actually pretty cool (nobody else in my family really cares about the parade so I’m not used to being able to watch it live).
My family met over at my Aunt Nancy’s house at about 2pm. I drove over by myself and as soon as I got there, I gave my cousin’s son, Dalton, the present I brought over for him and his sister Annabelle. For the past few years, I have drawn a mustache on Dalton at Thanksgiving. The first year, I accidentally used a permanent marker (I just used the marker that Dalton handed to me). Last year, I used mascara. This year, I brought face paint! And as soon as I handed Dalton the face paint, he asked me to draw his mustache on.
And as soon as I was done, Dalton was off to paint Annabelle’s face. I was chatting with a bunch of my relatives while he was painting her face, and I burst out laughing when I saw Annabelle.
She asked to be the Wicked Witch from “Wizard Of Oz” and I think that Dalton did a very good job of doing that!
Also at Thanksgiving, I got to hang out a bit more with Hudson, my cousin’s youngest son. This trip was my first time getting to meet him in person, and I might not get to see him again until next Thanksgiving, so I tried to get as much time with him as possible. I especially loved his outfit.
Before dinner was served, my mom called me and we got to FaceTime for a bit. I passed my phone around to everyone so they could all say hello. Even though I was still missing my parents, it made me feel a bit better that I got to see them even if it was only over the phone (seriously, isn’t technology the best sometimes!).
Dinner was ok. Thanksgiving foods are necessarily my favorites. I like the sweet potatoes so I had two servings of that. But I’m not the biggest turkey fan. But the desserts are always good. This year we had pumpkin pie and my Aunt Nancy also made my mom’s chocolate decadence cake. I’m sure I went way over my calories for the day, but it’s one meal so I wasn’t too worried about it.
Overall, even though the day was a bit weird for me, it was a very good Thanksgiving. I’m so lucky that I got to spend the day with 4 generations of my family (and we all pretty much get along)! And hopefully next Thanksgiving we will have more members of the family able to celebrate with us.
Trying To Prevent Zoom Fatigue (or Not Sure If This Is A Pandemic Problem Or Not)
