Bizarre!

I posted my plea for donations of goods and services for our tea on my local freecycle network. Within minutes I was getting replies and offers for things. It made me happy.

One of the replies I got was from a woman offering her photography services - a one hour, outdoor session. I jumped all over it, thanking her and asking for more info. She directed me to her Facebook page.

When I got to her FB page it struck me immediately, she looked so very familiar. Then it occurred to me that her name looked familiar too. It looked like the name of someone I'd seen posting on my cousin's FB page. So I checked back on her FB page and realized she had a link to my cousin's FB photography page on her page. I put two and two together and realized this was the sane girl...but something kept nagging me...she looked so very familiar - she looked like another cousin of mine. One I haven't seen in many years.  So I did some more snooping - into her own FB page and while the profile and wall settings were private her photos weren't. She had albums of pictures and captions that read Aunt Terri and Aunt Dawn. Those are my Aunts too (my mom's step sisters)

Well I'll be - the girl who replied to my ad, offering her photography services IS my cousin. Her Mom is one of my mom's step sisters.

I haven't seen this cousin in many years - since our Aunt passed away and before that I think the last time I saw her was at her Grandmother's house in the mid 90's - Sean and I had only just begun dating. 

When we were young we had some pretty memorable experiences like when I taught her how to shave her legs (her mom was livid! We were only about 11 or so)

But the most memorable experience was when we were 5. She was sleeping over at our house and we woke early. We got it into our heads that we wanted to go swimming. My bedroom had 4 walls, all that was needed to contain water so we proceeded to fill containers and pour it onto the floor in my bedroom with the hopes of making a pool in my room.

The problem with this is that we lived in a duplex - on the top floor. The water seeped down into the bedroom of the family who lived under us. The father (his name was Dick) came upstairs thinking a pipe burst in our bathroom - but no, it was just me and Jenny making a swimming pool.

Now it was my parents turn to be livid. Good times!

I don't have a whole lot of contact with that side of the family, really only 2 cousins (daughters of the Aunt who passed away) but there are lots of cousins on that side. Sometimes it makes me sad that there is a whole branch of family I don't really know but it is what it is.

At any rate, it was nice to reconnect with my cousin. I am so happy for her offer for the tea. And still surprised at what a small world it is.

Moving on.

I've added a weight tracker to the bottom of my blog. I'm going to really make a solid effort at losing this weight. I'm anxious to start exercising again but also apprehensive. Chemo has really taken the good out of my cardiovascular system. I get winded going up and down stairs. And the lymphedema in my hand gets worse when I really work it.
I'm going to start slow I think. I have a DVD called Yoga for Dummies so I think I might start with that. I might also buy myself a Walk Away the Pounds DVD. It's a slow start, low impact and simple. I really want to swim but that's out of the question while I'm doing radiation so it will have to wait.

I'm getting better with my eating though. My portions are smaller and I'm eating way more veggies than carbs. I'm also cutting back on my sugars....not cutting them out completely - I  haven't worked up my nerve yet - but I'm cutting back. It's a start.

I'll get there.