Well, we made a new acquaintance today. Kaitlyn.

To be more precise, she’s almost, kinda-sorta, but not exactly family. She’s my sister’s husband’s brother’s daughter. Not clear? My brother-in-law’s niece. Niece by marriage to my sister . . . She’s not exactly a limb on our family tree, but her tree and our tree intersect.

I’m not sure what, exactly that makes her to me (niece-in-law?), but no matter what the technical degree of (near) relativity, I’m happy to have her near my family (grin). And, hey, we consider her parents to be close enough to “real,” blood-family to BE family. Kaitlyn is part of the same family tree as my niece and nephew, after all. We went to her parents’ wedding two years ago, you might remember, and I did make her some sweaters last year . . . and since I only knit for family members, (barring the occasional charity-square), well, clearly . . . family!

Actually, technically, she’s made an appearance here before, just shortly after her world-wide debut last November 1st. Today was the first time we met her, though. We’d tried before, but what with one thing and another, today was the first time. But that’s okay–she was old enough to be charming and entertaining for her adoring public. That includes the three of us, my sister and her family, her in-laws (Caitlyn’s grandparents), and cousin Chris, who drove up from Maryland for the festivities, though his new wife had to stay home to study.

The “festivity” in question? A graduation party for my two favorite graduates. Their other grandparents were up visiting from Delaware, so naturally, we had to throw a party. Well, technically, Kaitlyn’s parents through the party, but you know what I mean.

It was so nice getting everyone together. My niece and nephew didn’t know it was a party . . . they just thought they were going to see their uncle, aunt, and cousin  . . . and looked completely flabbergasted when they saw us there. Surprise!

It made for such a nice afternoon, though. We got to see family that we hadn’t seen in ages, and we all chatted and mingle and ate and took pictures . . . but somehow, when Caitlyn was in the room, we all kind of congregated around her . . . And I did love watching the happy, baby-smile my sister got on her face while playing with her–it’s been a while since hers were that size, you know. And my nephew was so sweet with her–he looked intrigued and enchanted, and was a lot happier about letting her play with him than I’d expected him to be (what with his being a fourteen-year old teenage boy). It was so much fun watching my closest family being close-family with somebody else, if that makes sense–like standing in an a spot in your house you don’t usually stand in, and absorbing the different perspective of the familiar space. Nice. The only one not there was Chappy, who was home with a buster cube and a kong to help wile away the time.

But, yeah . . . I’d definitely say “family,” wouldn’t you?*

* (And, well, I suppose it doesn’t hurt that Betty is as excited as I am about Harry Potter #7 next week, huh?)

Tags: Family // 6 Comments »