This weekend my uncle Mike's friend (since they were kids) is throwing my uncle Mike a surprise retirement/birthday party (I think he's turning 60 or something, and he's retiring from the army). Some of my relatives that live far away are coming to stay at my house for the weekend because they can't stay at Mike's house. That would give away the surprise. A few of my aunts will be at my house as well as my uncle Adam.
These are relatives on my mom's side of the family. My father's side of the family doesn't really get along anymore, so I never see them. My mom had 6 siblings: 4 sisters and 2 brothers. My mom's parents got divorced years before I was even born, and her father married a woman that was about my mom's age. I can't remember if she was older or younger, but they're right around the same age. My grandfather and his new, young wife had two more kids. A daughter and a son. The son was actually born after my older brother was born, so my brother and I have a half uncle who's actually a bit younger than my brother.
My family goes to Florida about once a year and have since I was a kid, usually to visit my mom's sisters (3 of them live down there). We still go every year because in addition to those 3 aunts of mine that live down there, my brother also lives in the same city as one of them. He's a very talented video game designer. Anyway, when we were kids and my family would take road trips to Florida, we always stopped in Virginia to stay with my grandfather and step-grandma and their two kids, my half-uncle and half-aunt. We called them aunt Jennifer and uncle Adam despite the fact that they were both kids too. My brother and I would sleep in Adam's room and hang out with Adam while we were there. Naturally, since my brother and Adam were older than me and right around the same age as each other, I wasn't treated nicely all the time. I don't harbor any hard feelings about this though, that's just how kids are, especially boys, when there's an age difference like that. I wouldn't even be surprised if I was annoying.
In 2001, my grandfather died. I think Adam was in his first or second year of college. I thought it was very strange that my uncle was just college-age when his father died, but I guess that is what happens when you're in your 60's and have kids. So anyway, the whole family went to New Jersey for my grandfather's memorial, and we were all staying in the same hotel. That was the last time I saw Adam or Jennifer. I was 16 years old. A couple of years later, Jennifer got married, and I would have gone to the wedding except I was starting college, so I didn't get to go. After my grandfather died, and Adam and Jennifer were pretty much grownups, we didn't stop in Virginia anymore on the way to Florida, so I haven't seen them in years.
I found aunt Jennifer on facebook a while back, and I think that triggered the family getting in touch again, because just a couple days after I was having a conversation with Jennifer on facebook, her mother (my mom's stepmother, who if you remember, is about my mom's age) called my mother, just to talk. I guess it might have just been a coincidence, but I have a feeling Jennifer had told her mother that she had talked to me on facebook, so her mom decided to call my mom. Fast-forward months later, and my mom has been in contact with both Jennifer and Adam, and this surprise party for my uncle Mike was coming up. My mom invited both of them, but Jennifer can't make it, probably because her (I think 6 year old) son has school, but Adam can make it.
My mom was having trouble coming up with the sleeping arrangements since various relatives are going to be staying here, so it turns out Adam is going to be sleeping on my bedroom floor. It's like things have done a 180 or something. I used to sleep on Adam's floor, and now he's going to be sleeping on my floor. I feel very weird about it because it's been about 8 years since I've seen him, and I don't even know if he's cool or anything. I'm sure we've both changed since I last saw him (I wasn't very cool then), and I think my perception of cool has changed a lot since then. I'm 24 now, and my brother just turned 27 a week and a half ago, so that would make Adam 26, almost 27. Although the age difference doesn't seem nearly as big now as far as the numbers go, I have a feeling that he's still going to seem a lot older than me, and that to him, I'm going to seem young. He's been out living life for years, and I've been living with my parents for years.
This is sure to be an interesting weekend.
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