Thanksgave

I drove over the bridge and through the valley to Grandma's house for the holiday. I love my immediate-extended family (grandparents, aunts, uncles, first cousins), and I've enjoyed living within driving distance of them for the past 7 years. As a kid, we never lived in the same state as the rest of the family. Fortunately, we were able to fly cheaply and visit them on major holidays and over summer vacations - which allowed me to be closer to my grandparents then some kids who do live in the same town as theirs. And - I was also fortunate enough to miss out on the LARGER family dramas, and the obligation to like everybody whether we had anything in common or not. There are some wonderful folks in the further extensions of my family, but there are also folks - who would be comfortable on the set of Jerry Springer. Or may have BEEN on Jerry Springer, but I don't watch and wouldn't know them well enough to recognize them anyway. Is it wrong that I find it kinda cool and yet still appalling that I have a cousin who spent time in Folsom Prison? Makes me want to go see the Johnny Cash film... Seriously, though, some of these folks are a clear argument against both nature AND nurture because I just don't understand how we're from the same strings of DNA.