Family is a wonderful thing, whether you grew up with them or you are meeting for the first time you have a connection to hold onto, as some distant relations at my second cousin once removed's (I think) wedding proved when we discussed our long line to relation, crying "you're family" embracing me, literally. The invite alone was testament to my lovely family. I had not previously met Will so it was an honour to be able to attend the wedding and meet him, his new wife, and much more family!
The wedding was beautiful. Seeing the Midsummer Night's Dream seating plan for the dinner tipped me off straight away, Will and Lucie are my kind of people. A lovely ceremony in a lovely setting was followed by dinner with a lot of wine and then even more dancing. We danced the night away finishing up with Bohemian Rhapsody, which the DJ was shown is not a song to be cut off in the middle. When he stopped the music it continued in the bellowing voices of those of us remaining on the dance floor.
The next day a catch up with a family friend continued my trip. Intending to drop in for a chat of course turned into a good few hours talking and catching up on the gossip of our mutual acquaintances. It was juicy gossip too, involving prison sentences and babies with disputable fathers!
Family is of course something which is not all smooth sailing and in the case of my brother's fiance the bumps have been many. A lot of the family have not gelled with her so I was nervous to meet her, but we did ok. I found her a bit rude in a couple of conversations but most of the time she seems reasonable and I could get on with her. I made my attempts at suggesting the both of them make more effort in communicating with my parents so hopefully they take heed of that. And hopefully neither of them stumble upon this blog because wouldn't that be a touch awkward! Ha. It was genuinely lovely to see them, though.
Having dinner with (two of) my cousins and aunt was a great catch up. They enquired as to when my brother would get married, no date set but we all promised to be there with bells on whether they want us or not. We were told it will be a Pagan ceremony. My older cousin was an absolute gem and bought me a few sweet gifts. Wine, cider, and shower gel, carefully checked for vegan suitability.
Spending a few days with brother and fiance wasn't the easiest game since they are both fairly solidly interested in not much more than games, but we did our best and even passed the time with a few games, getting granddad playing Wii (Nintendo land) and xBox (drums on Guitar Hero). He is a bit of a dark horse and was actually not bad at them!
We also got to see my younger cousin a second time for a drink in Leicester between taking a wonder round the shops and down the river. Then yesterday granddad and I set off for home with a stop on the way to visit someone else dear to me- Shakespeare.
Stratford-Upon-Avon is beautiful, whether Shakespearean heritage interests you or not the town is lovely, centered on the river, bustling with tourists, on that particular day enjoying fantastic sunshine. We got tickets for the hop-on hop-off tour bus and visited Anne Hathaway's Cottage, the church where Shakespeare is buried, his birthplace, and Mary Arden's (his mother's) farm. The history is fascinating, both of the families and the period. Well worth a visit.
Now back in Maidstone I have spent a day shopping and made plans to see more old friends. Home is keeping me well.
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