Meeting Cousins from Down Under

Thanks to the technology of Facebook and the internet, I have been able to connect with several of my cousins that live in Australia. Like my mother's family (my family), my Tita Elsa'a (Aunt Elsa, mom's sister) family is rather large by today's standards. I don't know if all of the cousins are on Facebook as I have only connected with a few of them. Melanie, the oldest of the second cousins, popped into Messenger yesterday and we had a nice chat. She has offered to help me sort out who belongs to whom in my Aussie family.
I'm so glad that she reached out via Messenger. The brief chat really made my day!

I've been trying to make more connections through the "people you may know" section of Facebook as I see familiar names from my Down Under family, but I don't want to appear as the creepy old uncle making unwanted contacts with younger cousins, particularly the young women of the family. As a rule, I don't make friend request to younger people -- family or not. I have some family members in the States that I am not friends with on social media simply because they have not asked.

Last week, I did connect with one of the 2nd cousins, Carmen. We chatted for a bit and I performed a little long distance magic for her via Messenger. It was fun.

My two sisters have made trips to the Philippines or to Australia and have been able to meet cousins from my mom's side of the family. That is still on my list.

I suppose I need to use the available technology more often to keep in touch with family, both foreign and here at home. There really isn't a good excuse for not doing so. I send more text messages back and forth to my youngest brother than to the other siblings. I need to check in on the others more often than I have been doing.

My encouragement for the day is that you make a connection with someone you love. Drop a note via text or say hello via some form of social media.

Be well,
John <><