I am not a crook

A wedding is coming up in the extended family, and I will be there representing the extended family's eldest--my father.  I wondered whether two cousins, who are a few years younger than me, will be in attendance. 

In the old days, as in before the coronavirus, the question would not have popped up in my head.  Of course they will be at the wedding.  Duh!  But these are weird Covid times.

In the email, she answered the question: "you'll have an awesome reunion with them!"

I have not seen them for decades.  More than forty years have gone by?  I have pleasant memories of them all, and their late father.

During one of the usual summer stays with grandmas, we kids went to Trivandrum.  In the extended family scene, it made no difference whether it was the grandma or the great-aunt.  We were happy to spend time with them, and they were delighted that we visited.

The "lost" cousins also lived in the same city--their father was a professor.  One day, he came to the great-aunt's home, picked us up in his Standard Herald (Fiat?) and off we went to their home.

I am sure that my brother and I ingloriously feasted on whatever they gave us, and my sister would have behaved properly.  

He said he would show us a few photographs from their years in America.

But, he didn't bring out any photo album.

Instead, out came a gadget, on which he mounted a circular tray.

That was the first time I had ever seen a photo slide projector.  In fact, until then--and I was perhaps about 11 years old--I didn't even know that there was such a gadget.

I don't think there was a screen--the photos were projected on a wall.  There is only one photo that I remember after all these decades.  It was a photo of President Nixon.

I was doubly blown away now.  He had taken a photo of the American President?

A few years later, the family returned to America, as I recall.  I am sure I will get the timeline straightened out at the "reunion."

Life is about memories.  Every day, we create more memories. Some are pleasant. Some are profound.  A few are traumatic.  

In my life, the charming and pleasant memories far outweigh the traumatic and sad ones.  The cosmos has treated me well.