In this fandom, we always talk about how we are a family.....not by blood but by love. Last year, I found out that I have both. As many of you already know, I have been in this fandom since the beginning and I have also been attending the annual coventions for the same amount of time. What you may not know and what I didn't realize until last year was two other people were doing the same thing. In the beginning days of fan conventions, there would be hundreds of people in attendance so it was very difficult to get to know other fans outside of your own circle of friends. So when I decided to attend my first convention in fifteen years, I was surprised to see how intimate they were now. I actually got to talk to people that I had only seen in passing before. On the Thursday before the Minnesota convention started, a lot of us were sitting outside in the garden when two people arrived. I recognized their faces but of course I didn't know their names. (I have to confess that I thought they were a married couple.) So as we all started passing out hugs, the gentleman sat down next to me and we started to talk. We asked each other where we were from and he mentioned that his family was from Tennessee. I told him that my grandfather was buried there. "Where abouts?", he asked. "Well, it's probably a place you've never heard of. It's not even on the map. It's called Cerro Gordo." I then proceeded to tell him about the old country store I remembered when I visited. "Harbor-Pitts?", he asked. "Yes, that's the one!" Unfortunately, it was starting to get really late and we all had to call it a night. But before we all went to our respective rooms, the gentleman asked me to find him to give him some more information about my grandfather and his family. (Come to find out, he is into genealogy and Ancestry.com so he was going to do some research over the weekend.) So on Friday, I stopped by their room. (Both his sister and mother were there.) I came with the name of my grandfather and my trial family tree on Ancestry.com so he could dig a little deeper. By the time Saturday night's banquet arrived, he had found out that we were related! We are distant cousins on their father's side. And on a side note, after we returned from the Calgary con this year, we discovered that we may be related on their mother's side! Such a small world we live in! So when you hear myself or Ron Stricklin or Pat Thomas say the phrase, "How you doin' cuz?".....we mean it literally! Laura Beth Cook |