Jim and Janet...

[fajrdrako]

I was visited today by my cousin Jim and his wife Janet. They live in Angola and, needless to say, I don't see them often. Every twenty years or so, maybe. This is a summer for contact with long-lost cousins.

The visit was fun. Jim had photos of his family and the city they live in (Lubango); he has all these adult children I don't even know - I made notes of their names and ages. He has a daughter with the same name as mine, and his sister Eleanor said she looked a little like me. Seeing the pictures, I thought so, too.

I looked at Lubango on Google Maps, to see where it is. We then looked at the satellite pictures and they were able to pick out their house, their children's houses, their church, their schools - pictures so up to date that they thoughtthey'd been taken since they left home two months ago.

Janet says it's a family trait to be fascinated with maps. Could be. She said it was also a family trait to love to read, and have books. "Jim won't sleep without a book by the bed," she said. Jim and I agreed that this was perfectly normal, and quite possibly genetic.