Most of the time when you check Facebook one last time before heading off to bed, you see a lot of “Clarabelle needs three more aardvarks for her zoo!” or “I cried through the last twenty minutes of Glee!” and nothing much more earthshaking than that. But Wednesday night, when I went on to Facebook just after 11 p.m. I was delighted and amazed to see a message from my cousin Solveig saying “We’re in Racine!” To make a long story short, Solveig, her husband, and her young son unexpectedly found themselves in Racine for a day and a half – and when someone comes all the way from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it’s a Red Letter Day to be sure.
By some strange miracle, we had a fairly easy-going Thursday, and just by switching a couple of things around, we were able to make ourselves available to show them the town, enjoy a lovely lunch at the Chancery (right on the lakefront), and even share the fun of the first open air Kenosha Pops concert down in the bandshell. (As sweet as Solveig is, I’m sure she was tempted to strangle me when at one point in the concert – as emcee – I called on that crowd of 700 people to give my cousin from Pennsylvania a nice, warm Wisconsin welcome.)
But mostly, it was just so fantastic to have this chance to enjoy the company of this lovely cousin who I hadn’t laid eyes on in seven years. Solveig is the youngest of the five children of my Uncle Paul (my dad’s brother) and part of the family that we referred to as The Northern Bergs. They lived in far-off Grand Rapids, Minnesota – which to us felt as exotic as the Arctic Circle – and on top of that, they were Episcopalian. Most wondrous of all, they never watched TV- which I’m sure is a big reason why they were such lively, creative people compared to their couch potato cousins from Iowa. Anyway, the times we have been together with Solveig, John, Sigri, Kristian, and Sara have been all too few over the years . . . and especially lately. But then our paths will cross and it’s as though we were just together yesterday. I can’t begin to explain it, but I’m so thankful for it. . .and so thankful for the wonderful and ultimately mysterious gift of family, that is as precious as anything else that this life has to give.
pictured above: My cousin Solveig and me. Kathy took the picture- and she actually ended up spending even more time with them than I did. She was the Tour Guide and Chauffeur Extraordinaire.