On Tuesday, I awaited the arrival of my niece, Lisa, and her daughter, for a visit of a couple of days. There is nothing spectacular about that except that I had only met Lisa once before, at the funeral of her birth father (my brother) back in January. All summer, I had hoped to drive to the Chicago area to visit, but it didn't happen...and Lisa agreed to come here, with daughter Lydia, and 8-month-old black German Shepherd "puppy" Crowley.
Lisa is my brother's daughter by a girlfriend back when he and she were both very young in the early 1970's. She was given up for adoption at birth. Daughter and birth parents were reunited via the Internet back in the late 1990's, but for reasons known only to God, my brother stopped calling her. The next thing Lisa heard about her father was from me...that he had dropped dead in a store on New Year's Eve day of 2005. I can only imagine how she felt. She didn't know me, but we had her name and found her phone number, so I called. She attended her father's funeral on January 13th and accepted his flag, but it had to be overwhelming for her.
Since then, Lisa and I have traded emails on a number of occasions, and we finally got a chance to spend some time together in the last two days. I see nothing of Doug in his daughter, except intelligence! She doesn't look like the Covill family at all (and Lisa, if you are reading this, that is probably a blessing!). She is calm and patient and seemingly unflappable--totally unlike her birth father! From her very arrival in the drive, I was comfortable with her here. We stayed up WAY too late both nights and spent WAY too much time on genealogy stuff--but we had to pack a lot into a short time.
Her car pulled into my driveway just about at dark on Tuesday. It took her 2-3 hours just to get out of the Chicago area, so it was a long trip for them. Lydia, 10, ensconced herself in the guest room (although still awake) at bedtime, and Lisa and I stayed up until 2:00 AM just talking.
On Wednesday, we slept late, then crated puppy Crowley in order to go to the Children's Museum in Indy. We were gone from probably 1:00 PM until 6:00 PM. (I think Lisa would have had a better time were it not for worry about Crowley.) When we arrived back at the home place, we discovered that Crowley had been a busy boy! Somehow, he managed to pull down the window curtain and broke the rod that held it up. No biggie there, but how did he do that?? The real surprise was that he got Lydia's backpack, which was OUTSIDE of the crate, chewed it to shreds until it was INSIDE of the crate, with the contents of the backpack still on the outside. Wish I had a video of how he managed that!!! Lydia went to sleep somewhat early--maybe 11:00 PM?--so Lisa and I could stay up talking way too late, again.
Today (yesterday...Thursday), was a rainy day. Lisa and I were kind of wiped out by late hours, etc....so we ate a little and did genealogy things. She finally crashed for a long nap before departing much later than she had hoped for the Chicago area. I got the call that she had arrived safely. I know she is pooped!
I feel good about our visit, but also humbled. It is ironic that the only chance I had to meet my niece was after my brother died. Had he not died, our meeting would not have happened. She has a loving adoptive family that represents her "real" parents, but the genetic angle counts for something. I loaded the young lady down with family stories and pictures and genealogical information...and I hope she forgives me for so much so soon!
Meg will arrive in the early morning tomorrow (today now) so we can do a genealogy research trip. Things are complicated by grandchildren care. The day will evolve as it will.
I hope to have Sunday to recupe and get ready to start the school year!
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