Spending a great day with far-away relatives

I have been busy, busy, busy lately -- although not necessarily only with real estate stuff.  This past Saturday, I spent the day in New Jersey visiting with family for my cousin's bride-to-be wedding shower.  It was so much fun having an opportunity to visit with family, friends and long-lost acquaintances that I haven't seen in years.  Days like this should not just be reserved for weddings and funerals, and every year I vow to keep in touch with special people and then life seems to get in the way.

Besides spending a total of 6 hours in the car driving (3 hours there, 3 hours back) with my mother (!) -- really it wasn't all that bad.  The trip home Saturday evening was a bit rough, as I was exhausted by then, but it was nothing that a Grande Latte with an extra espresso shot (yes, they call this a triple shot) couldn't cure.  All in all, it was well worth the trip.

I was reminded on this day that I've been called "little Jeannie" for most of my life, as one of my cousins is "big Jeannie" since she is 2 years older than I am.  The other cousin, "Jennie", lucked out from any such nicknames because her parents decided to call her by a slightly different name.  Either way, we are all named after our paternal grandmother who we had never met, Eugenia.  Our dads are all brothers, and she passed away shortly after coming to America when my dad was only about 16 or so. 

When I was the first one to get married, they didn't feel "little Jeannie" was appropriate anymore, so I became "New York Jeannie" since my other cousin "Jeannie" lived in Lancaster and was then known as "PA Jeannie".  Well, I up and moved to Lancaster too, and went ahead and ruined that phase, and just ended up confusing everyone. 

Even though we were cousins and not sisters, there were years when we were younger that we looked enough alike to fool people into thinking that we were sisters.  We had an uncle who, for our entire lives, couldn't quite get the "Jeannie, Jeannie and Jennie" thing down, and would ask us each time he saw us:

..... "Who are you?  Jane, Jane or Janie?" 

That was the joke we'd laugh about growing up, and still remembered again this past Saturday and laughed over it once more.  That sweet uncle is long gone now, unfortunately, and I wonder if he ever realized just how much of him would stay with us through his bad habit of forgetting names. 

No, this post has nothing to do with real estate -- unless I happen to toss in the fact that I finally had a chance to see my cousin's house after years of renovations.  Whoa!  I felt like I walked into a model home ~ decorated to the nines and absolutely beautiful.  No task was left undone, and every square inch of that house was so well thought out when they renovated. 

Needless to say, I spent much of the day Sunday recuperating from such festivities and the long drive back and forth in one day.  So far, the work week has started off with a bang, with a listing appointment and a showing.  By the way, stay tuned for an adorable detached home for sale in Lititz coming on the market in a few short weeks. 

There!  I got some real estate talk in, after all!