A new family member! Birthdays!

You know the Chinese saying/curse 'May you live in interesting times'? Well, the week of my birthday was one of those. I posted my blog a few days earlier than usual because of the Sunshine Award nominations, and on the day I posted I received a call from my second cousin in Ireland to say he had something to discuss with me. He had signed up for Ancestry DNA some months ago and had found a close match in the UK: he'd received a response and was able to tell the matchee she had a first cousin (me!) living less than 50 miles away from her. Please meet Marian and her daughter Katherine: Marian is my maternal aunt's eldest child born in 1953, out of wedlock, and adopted (the same as my brother Julian) and therefore my first cousin. She and her daughter came to see me last Friday. It was an emotional meeting but it was so lovely to meet them both. I was able to show Marian pictures of her biological mum and of her extended family in the UK, Ireland, Chicago, Fl