Whew - a little down to the wire today! However, I did just have a lovely evening I can tell you all about.

A third cousin of mine who is driving across the country then down through the States pulled up in my parent's driveway at 7 this evening in a bright orange VW van. Which has no heat. So she and her friends drive with sleeping bags wrapped around them. As she recounted this over dinner I thought my mother's eyes were going to fall out of their sockets, they were so wide.

Despite their somewhat loose grip on practicality, they were (her, her boyfriend and another friend) a group of completely charming 20 year olds, I had a great evening hanging out with them and took them on a walk through neighbourhood, however I felt about 40 at times. None in school, one with a bit of a vocation/career path.... I was never so footloose and fancy free! I don't feel bad about that, I'm pretty sure the life choices I've made are working out for me so far but at times I can't help but shake my head and wonder.

I had actually never met this cousin of mine before. My mother had over 60 first cousins so if you were to walk up to me on the street and say 'Hey - we're cousins!' I am likely to believe you because I have never and don't know how I could meet all the cousins I have. I don't even have the names straight of the ones I see occasionally. Yet while I mock this, and tell people about my 'crazy Irish family', I feel so privileged to have that network. As my mother was happy to host and feed this girl we had never met, I know her mother would do the same for me were I to appear on her doorstep. I actually had a lot of fun telling her family stories that she had never heard. I seem to still be cool thank goodness. I got to explain Twitter to them. They even seemed disappointed I have to go to work tomorrow rather than show them around.

I wish I could play tour guide again, tomorrow I will be mainly spending my time sorting all my files in preparation of switching jobs in 2 weeks. There are worse ways to spend (what is supposed to be) a rainy Friday. I'll let you know how it goes!