Just a personal Note and "Billy Would"

Nothing serious just very excited for my trip to Toronto this weekend to visit Cousins.  I have a lot of cousins I think I counted around 21 first cousins on my Dad's side alone.  I am probably only going to be seeing 8 or 9 this weekend not to mention their kids and spouses.  It always seem to be a mix of extremes between families, where you either love your cousins or you just don't care very much or loathe them.  Even i feel this.  I love love love to death my Cousins on my Dad's side but on my Mom's side it get's very hairy.  Some of them I enjoy while others just make me wonder how in the world we are related whatsoever.

This is going to be a very happy trip though!  For the first time in a long while I am going up to visit without my parents or brothers and driving up with my cousin from Columbus Christina whom I never get to spend time with even though we live in the same city.  It is also for once not a Wedding nor Funeral so we can relax and be ourselves and not worry about what our parents, aunts and Uncles are thinking of us and what we are wearing.  There was a bit of controvesy at my Grandma's funeral.  My make up was too bright, I should of worn something more conservative instead of a maxi dress and my Uncle from Vancouver had no suitable dress clothes according to his sister in law my Aunt in Niagra.  It was sort of silly to watch hime get re-dressed and sighs of disapproval even though it was his twin brother's clothes.

Up till my Grandma's Funeral I had no inkling of what my Cousins in Vancouver were up to.  They were always the mystical Chung's that were off in that far far away land.  Then we I finally got to re-meet my cousin Adea I found that Art does run in the family more then I had expected.  Her father, my Uncle Tom is a woodcarver in the Yukon and I've always known this.  I met them once before that I can remember.  He was on this ridicuolus road trip from Vancouver to Mexico to Ohio then I think they went to Toronto and back to Mexico before going back to Vancouver.  At that time I only had two cousins by him Adea and Ian.  I remember them bringing us the most random awesome presents, Mexican woven wall hangings, bear skin rug and various other trinkets.  My cousins were learning Violin and had to sleep in this weird semi lifted space that my Uncle made in the back of the van but the only way in was a trap door unless the back doors were open.  It was a bit terrifying, not for the claustrophobic at all.  But those were my only memories of them until Grandma's funeral.  We were over 150 Chung's strong in representation at the Funeral.  That alone was amazing almost like a family reunion. 

Whilst there I find out that my Cousin Adea has her own reclaimed wood jewelry company called Billy Would and like me she is very into the craft scene and her sister's and other brother whom I never met also have a bit of the Art bug.  AMAZING to get to know them this way.  I look forward to getting to know them more in the years to come and making a trip to Vancouver in the next two years.

 Selections from Adea's Website "Billy Would"