Who do you think you are?

Today was a bit of a weird one. After last night's excesses after watching a second game of football and discussing with my oldest friend, this morning was always going to be tough.

We had a rendez vous, albeit an unexpected one with relatives who I hadn't seen for years. I have mentioned before my family and the fact that I do not know very much about them. On my father's side, there was one sister with no family and that was it. On the other side, more of a family, but not many I have any contact with. Until today.

I called my mother's cousin a few week's ago, coincidence was that she was about to celebrate her golden wedding anniversary. We organised that we pop in to see them en route for our holiday but before then, she was to be in Edinburgh staying at her sister's house, literally 15 minute walk from my house.

So we met up again and I learned more about my grandparents and their parents than I have done in years. There were details which were intriguing (their father being brought up by my Granny from the age of 9), familiar (our shared beta thalassemia, the origin of which remains the biggest mystery in our family) and others which were frankly downright sad (the reason why their father had to be looked after from such an early age). There are so many details I need to know, these people hold the keys.

It was truly brilliant to meet these generous people, my extended family with so much to tell and we are going to be in touch more often.

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