Another Woman Joins the Pack

My second cousin was in town this weekend for college orientation. She's attending the U starting in the Fall. When my Great Aunt C called to tell me Ang was coming she told me how she had given up a full-ride scholarship in NM to come to the frigid north just to be with family. "She wants to get to know us - the women in her family. She's basically you 10 years ago."

I knew what she meant. Ang's mom died in a car accident 3 years ago. I hadn't seen her since that summer when she'd come for a short visit and only remembered she was tall with short dark hair. And her sadness. It was wrapped around her like a blanket.

I drove to the campus to meet her at the student union. I was blocks away from our meeting spot, on the corner of Washington and Oak, when I recognized my Great Grandmother's nose, the shape of my mother's face, my grandmother's shoulders, on a girl bundled in a sweatshirt and freezing - in June. I threw my arms around her. This stranger who is not so strange.

Later that night we saw the movie Cars. During the big race scene the stadium was full of car spectators. She leaned over and whispered, "Imagine the traffic when that race is over!"

Ah, yes, I thought. She is family.