anam_moon | Saturday 10-4-03

I didn't think I would be happy about having to open at Barnes and Noble but it actually worked out to be to my benefit. My Swedish side of the family was having a family reunion since several relatives from Sweden were here. Usually, unless I call in sick, I don't get to be at these family functions because they never get planned much ahead of time (that we hear about anyway) so I end up having to go to work and just hear about it from my parents. It would be nice to not have to give up every weekend to Barnes& Noble.
I was already resigned to the fact that I was not going to get to meet my relatives from Sweden, but then on Thursday David asked me if I wouldn't mind working an opening shift on Saturday since they had too many closers and only two to open the store. Yes! It was very strange being there so early in the day and I don't think we had the normal crowd of people there for a Saturday morning, but I was off at four-thirty and then James and I headed over to my Aunt Patty's house for the reunion. I thought it was very sweet that James stayed there with me instead of just dropping me off. It was so nice! I got to meet so many people and see family that I generally only see at funerals. It has always seemed very sad to me that I have a very, very large family on both sides and I never see my Mom's side and, for the most part, I only see Dad's side when one of them has passed away. It was so nice being there with my family and everyone being happy! I hadn't seen my Great-Aunt Madeline in years! All of the Swedish relatives told me I need to go to Sweden, hopefully someday. I would very much like to travel to Sweden and Norway to see what it's like and get to visit the family we have there. One of my relatives, since the family reunion, has emailed a whole bunch of us to try to get everyone in on doing an online family tree with photos and stories, I think it's a wonderful idea and it may help me get the family tree I've been working on completed and accurate.