Family gets ya

Posted by Tasha (Chicago, United States) on 29 March 2008 in People & Portraits.

This is my sister, my cousin AJ and his girlfriend (Megan, I think), and my cousin Ashley (AJ's younger sister).

I have no idea what CJ is thinking about. She looks like she's contemplating the incredibly tacky ceiling in this room (The Pope Room, for the record). My uncle took a picture of it with my camera, if anyone is interested in the tacky ceiling. Obviously "incredibly tacky" was the design goal of this room, though. So it might not be that interesting.

AJ and Ashley are also grandchildren of the grandparents I posted a photo of earlier. Unlike my sister and I, they lived in the same house all of their lives, or close to it. I've always wondered what that was like. Later I'm going to post a photo of one of my two oldest friends. We met in high school. I suspect AJ and Ashley have what could truly be called "childhood friends", though I don't know.

I don't actually know AJ or Ashley well at all. I love them both dearly, but I would say that this visit (at my father's birthday dinner) was the first time I really saw Ashley talk and interact a great deal with the rest of us. She was fun. I don't know if she used to be shy and has become less so or what, but it was interesting. I do apologize to her for the fact that she's slightly out of focus. However, Ashley, even out of focus, you have a great smile.

AJ has never been shy, that I know. He baked me an awesome birthday cake once, when I was in high school. He may have been in high school by then too, but I'm not sure. If so, I think he was a freshman. I carry a photo in my mind, that my mother or his mother took at our grandparent's house. We've both grown up a great deal since then.

The fascinating thing about all of this is that things like knowing I didn't know my family is part of what prompted me to start a blog like this. I figure if I want to get to knowing my family, I have to give them openings to get to know me. Living more a thousand miles away from them, those openings won't really come naturally. I have to create them. Who choses to get to know me by looking at the world through my lens, who knows? But I figure it's fun for me, and I hope fun for them. And anyone else who decides to come check it out.