Saschathon: Meet the cousins..and everyone else

I'm a failure as an iPaparazzi and I oughta be ashamed of myself...I had so many pictures to take and didn't take very many at all. Before Brent left for Shanghai, I took the day off to spend some time with him. We ended up running a lot of errands because it was literally the day before he left but it was nice to go for a drive and spend time with him...and it definitely beat having to go to work. We started our day early and went to breakfast at Cream Pot. I wrote about it once, but if you recall, I was very sick at that time so I didn't really write about the food. We ended up ordering the same Egg and bacon bake with baguette (it's very Japanified French food). I got it as a set so mine came with a crepe and iced tea as well. After that, we literally had to drive everywhere for last minute items and trip details, like his haircut, bank deposits, internationalizing his cellphone, cold weather clothes...there was quite a bit on our to-do list. We also went to dinner with his family at a pho shop called Little Saigon. It was delicious because I had been sort of boycotting pho for a while...nothing against it, but I had been conscientiously trying to eat something outside of pho on the Vietnamese menu.

From left: Josh (Sharla's husband), Jase (Aunty Arlene's bf), John, James, Tim (behind Michael) and Michael.

But failing to take pictures of all our stops while we ran errands was not my real reason for calling myself a shamed i-razzi. It's actually because today, I met everyone. And by everyone in quite literally mean everyone in Brent's family and friends circle...mainly on his father's side...and failed! to get pictures of everyone. But see, my excuse is that I didn't think it was very appropriate for me to do so. Brent's grandfather passed on so I attended the service without Brent. The family was at peace with the passing and did not want to see it as an occassion to mourn their loss so almost everyone was smiling and at ease at the service. I saw it as a good opportunity to meet Brent's cousins, who I've heard a lot about. Brent was very sad that he wasn't there today because believe it or not, it had been the first time in years that the majority of his family and cousins had gathered...and he had missed them by a few days. Brent's father comes from a family of four--with three older sisters, Uncle Bryon was the youngest and only son. His eldest sister, Aunty Joanne, has four sons: Michael, John, James and Timothy (in that order). Michael and Tim are recently married and Tim had recently been blessed with a beautiful baby girl. I got to meet the wives, with whom I got along well with when we all started talking about manicures and pedicures and I also got to talk to each of the boys. I had been told that Brent and his cousin, John were the most similar in personalities and I could immediately see why--they're both comedians and rascals! I also got to see Brent's other cousins--twins, Sharla and Shawnti, whom are both also married. I've met them several times before but it's always nice to catch up with them. I was being introduced to people left and right by Brent's mom. It was very flattering and a little embarrassing to constantly hear family and friends say, "oooh, ok. Yes, I heard that you were very pretty...it's nice to meet you." Did you hear that? They thought that I was pretty. It was definitely a great day for my ego but it was hard to keep myself from constantly blushing. Overall, it was nice to see that I had already been accepted by the family and to be introduced to Brent's distant relatives and family friends.