Hurricanes, Consanguinity and a BBQ

It was an eventful Saturday in the Steele household. We experienced our first Northern Virginia hurricane, complete with flooded roads and torrential rains. Luckily, we stayed (mostly) out of the rain, except for when someone forgot to charge her cell phone and we went to meet our realtor at Starbucks to start our house search, only to discover that he'd left me a voicemail 4 hours earlier to inform us that he couldn't make it.

I will now be charging my cell phone religiously.

On our drive back to the house, we had to take an alternate route because the road we'd just driven on was completely flooded. At that point, I started to worry, because, you see, I had plans.

Plans that included barbeque and long-lost relatives. Urban BBQ, to be specific. (And their Redneck Fondue and chips, to be even further specific. They are unspeakably good.)



That's right, folks. Reach back into your Wills, Trusts & Estates class notes and pull out your Chart of Consanguinity. Because here we go!

My mom: June
June's Dad: Bob
Bob's Sister: Betty
Betty's daughters: Sue and Sandi
Sue's daughter: Becky
Becky's husband: Eric
Eric and Becky's daughter: Ella



Hi, I'm Ella. And now back to my regularly scheduled chocolate milk.



Any guesses, fellow law students? I think Sandi is my second cousin, Becky is my second cousin, once removed, and Ella is my second cousin, twice removed. Does that sound right?



But since Second-Cousin-Twice-Removed-Ella is difficult to say, we'll just call her Ella. Pictured here with my fabulously fun Aunt Sandi. (Just ask her yourself. She'll tell you personally -- Sandi's a firecracker! In fact, she recently visited my Grandpa Bob, and he warned her not to "start any fires" while she was up here hanging out with us. Ha! She's dangerous!)

Also dangerous? Urban BBQ's Smores Pie. I might have eaten lots of this and lots of the Apple Crisp. Calories do not count during hurricane season, people.



So, here's the whole clan: Ella, Becky, Eric, Sandi, Steven and Yours Truly. I find it a fantastic and fascinating thing to be twenty-seven years old and just now meeting my own relatives for the first time. (Granted, Becky and the fam were in Oklahoma until recently, so I suppose that gives me somewhat of an excuse. But still!) It was also fantastic to discover that my own flesh-and-blood are very normal folks. Happy, well-adjusted, and delightful people.



Though I can't promise they thought the same of us...


We're odd. I'll be the first to admit it.

Lovely to meet you, finally, cousin(s)! So happy to discover that you're close by, and after seeing us all together, I think I can see the relation, too. Its in the cheekbones.