I’m pretty sure I’m going to remember this past week.  Most amazing was meeting a sister for the first time who is young enough to be my daughter.  Our mother had ten kids and threw away six of them. Yep!  She was a fertile one – but lacked a nurturing gene, I suspect.  When I eventually connected with my half-sisters in Pennsylvania, they mentioned two more siblings that had been adopted out and raised in New Jersey.  They always wanted to know what became of them, and asked me to investigate and see if I could find any information.  None of them were on the Internet at that time but they knew I spent hours researching genealogy links.  I used Facebook and much to my delight, I found Marian. She was interested in her biological sisters but her brother wasn’t so we started communicating via email and Skype a couple times.

She’s the head of the ICU at her hospital in North Carolina; is married to Jack (also from New Jersey) and has three kids and one grandchild. I was thrilled when she decided they were going to fly into SeaTac, rent a car, and head over to Port Angeles.  She wanted to meet her other siblings in Port Townsend too.

Our brother, Dana, and his wife drove up from P.T.  and we spent the evening chatting over pizza and strawberry shortcake.  There wasn’t any bashfulness on anybody’s part even from the first meet and greet.  It was the same when I took them into Port Townsend to meet our other brother on Marrowstone Island and our sister in PT.   I drove them around town to see my childhood home, Fort Worden, and other spots.  We strolled on Water Street and she hit a few shops before heading out to Nordland for a family picnic.  We had a great time. She got pictures of herself with our brother, Les, and the goats and llama being raised by Kris and Bill Rust.  I even met a nephew of Betty MacDonald, who wrote ‘The Egg and I’.  We discussed Betty being sued back in the 40’s when some of the locals resented her cute stories (even though names were changed).  I told him one of my best friends was a part of that family and I never could understand their dismay. Who wouldn’t want to claim a kinship to Ma and Pa Kettle from the movies?  I’d cherish that family history.

Les drove us around Fort Flagler and we stopped at the beach to take pictures of Port Townsend across the bay. I love that view!  Les knew a lot of history about Fort Flagler so I learned all kinds of things I wasn’t aware of.  He took them for a walk through one of the old army bunkers, as well.

The next day I took them to the Elwha River to see the dismantled dam and take pictures in front of Madison Falls.  I didn’t think a visit to an old dam would be all that interesting but it was.  The following day we went to Hurricane Ridge.  I don’t like driving on mountain roads so Marian drove their rental car.  I hadn’t been up that way for maybe ten years and I was surprised at just how easy the drive was and how good the roads were.  I was still glad she was driving, though.  We took pictures and bought souvenirs in the lodge.  I sat in the car to people watch while they hiked up a very steep path to another summit where they could see Port Townsend and other towns.  I gave them my binoculars but knew the hike up and back down would kill me, even with my walking stick.

On their last night we went to Traylor’s Restaurant where my granddaughter works, for dinner with my daughters, Susan and Jenni.  The following morning they stopped in for about an hour before heading back to Seattle to sight see and visit my daughter, Mary, in Renton.  I always envy those folks who aren’t afraid to venture out to places unknown. They relied on GPS to get them wherever they wanted to go and had no difficulty.

I had mentioned that my kids all use texting to communicate on their cells but I was having a hard time feeling comfortable with it.  Much to my delight, she showed me how I can use the phone microphone to say my message out loud. Later, my daughter showed me how you can take pictures on your phone when the sun is bright and you can’t see the screen. I had no idea there was a simple maneuver to switch the camera to “outside mode.” I wonder just what else that phone can do that I’m unaware of.

Anyhow, they took their first ferry ride, ate at the Space Needle, and plan on visiting the Farmer’s Market, the glass museum, and other spots before heading out to Renton to meet her niece, Mary.  I’m so glad they chose Washington for their vacation.