Cousin Jeffrey

(photo: sister Joanne, cousin Jeffrey and me.)

Our cousin Jeffrey is one in 6,777,356,829 (world population). Well, maybe two. He and I are so similar it's just freakish. When he came to visit this week, I realized how profoundly comforting it is to really feel "gotten". Jeffrey just "gets" me and I "get" him. We laugh over the same silly "nothing-at-alls". We're enlivened by beauty, introspection, honesty, sensitivity, nature, great food, travel, shopping, yada, yada ad infinitum. And Ted? Well he just shakes his head at our nonsense, and can't help but be amused by the antics of two testarossa (red-head) cousins enjoying each other. We're just ridiculous in the most wonderful way.

Ted often says his job in life is driving me around wherever I want to go. Drivin' Miss Pinky, he calls it. This time it was Drivin' Mister Jeffrey too. In the two days he was here, Ted drove Jeffrey and me to all the places around that we thought he'd enjoy ... Sebastopol, Healdsburg and Sonoma. We took him walking around Spring Lake, ate fabulous food (see Breakfast At Bovolo blog) and did our small share of reviving the country's economy by being good little touristy consumers. Part of that consuming was Jeffrey gifting us with a beautiful set of old silver teaspoons which may sound strange, but he knew we'd lost a lot of teaspoons along the way and were looking for pretty replacements. See? He's just that thoughtful kinda guy.


Anyway, the second night Jeffrey was here, we had the family over to see him. We spent the whole night feasting on laughter and deli sandwiches — lots of reminiscing, dredging up old family stories, discovering forgotten ones, and making up new ones. Families are so rich in mythology, and doesn't everyone love trading tales and gossiping about each other?

So two days with Jeffrey felt like two weeks of vacation for Ted and I. We were so grateful that he came to see us and fill our lives with pleasure. Come again, Cousin Jeffrey, come again!