Australia

On June 28 I picked up my cousin from Australia, it was his first visit to the United States and his plan was to stay for ten days and have an "American Experience"!  He planned his trip around America's fourth of July so he could see what this was about.  This was also the first time I was going to meet him (and we are both 46) this is my mothers sisters son.  He tells me there are other cousins there - Australia - that are around my age as well, but I wonder if I will ever be together enough to get over there to visit them all.  The trip from Australia to New York takes almost a full 24 hours with one stop in Los Angeles, California and costs about $2500!  I imagine the year I decide to do this I will have to give up a small trip to someplace in the States (this years trip is Memphis, Tennessee, last year was Vegas) along with the tattoo I always get! 

My cousins visit was the most fun I've had in years, he turned out to be a really nice guy (and helpful around the house!).  There were many days I would come in from working and find him downstairs doing laundry or out in my garden helping out while he waited for me to come back.  He was also adventurous and would take off to explore, talking to strangers along the way.  People in my neighborhood were immediately charmed by his accent and took him into their homes for dinner and drinks!  Cheers!  My friends and I joked that I'd acquired my own Crocodile Dundee, he was just as affable and not afraid of anything!  although he kindly told us that Paul Hogan had ruined the image of Australians forever, and Nicole Kidman was a "fake"! But he was always in favor of saying "shrimp on the Barbie" for us just the same!

I know...there isn't much creativity in sharing this visit...except that I am sure that his visit has altered who I will be forever.  Strange that when he left I found myself crying for two days over the absence of his presence.  Having never known my mother (she died when I was five) or any of her family, I never missed them...all of that has changed with that visit.