//M|a|g|o|g\\

              family.

family re       ()             unions
                        empty              space
  relation                                                           poetry
                                 attempts            losses                                        friends
              siblings
who                                       gives                                       a fuck  
        she he me i you us                          together                                       abandonment
stories                              tears                                 laughs                                                 i




                      do





As July began to diminish and August slowly floated in, we visited our family in Magog, Canada. My father's mother, Gertrude Pattenaude, was born and raised in this province, and after my father's uncle passed away he lost contact with all his cousins. My parents are curious and they care and they want to reach every possible corner of this universe, so they contacted them and that led to, kind of, my first "family reunion!" We found our way to Francine and Bertrand's house (Francine is my dad's cousin and Bertrand is her hilarious husband), and we talked before we met the rest of the crew. After my explorations with all the people throughout the day, I'd really come to like them. Francine was the perfect aunt, and with her sarcastic husband, their skills combined, their humor off each other, and their making fun of each other, they were the funniest, most caring, and awesome, I guess, second-aunt-and-uncle! 
After the morning meeting, consisting of four fried eggs and a giant cartoon of raspberries eaten to their last bites, we got in the car and headed to the docks, where we met the rest of the family: Donald, Francine's brother, Sebastian (Donald's son) and his wife Mindy, Jonathan (Donald's second son) and his girlfriend. What was odd, I think, for our family, was that they were all so close and together- for us, we maybe see our relatives once a year and there's no true connection. But, I guess we were slowly accepted into their group and we had a blast on the boat! I ate a TON of cheetos and chips, talked to these interesting new people who were related to me, and swim in the freezing lake Memphramagog! Later, we had a barbecue and listened to music outdoors and played horseshoe, soccer, and a game where we tied balloons to string and then to our ankles and while defended our own balloons tried to pop other people's. It was really fun! It was Mindy and Sebastian's idea for their wedding, but they never got to play it so we got to enjoy it. Then, for dessert, Sylvie, Donald's wife, brought out this GIGANTIC tub of ice cream: "a big ice cream for a big family," she said! Maybe it doesn't seem like it, but at the time it was hilarious!
What I realized from that day was of course that family isn't just "important" but they're people that you can relate to and have fun with and talk to and more. But more than that, to do things in life, you have to reach out and take a step. We never would have had this great day if we hadn't made an effort to contact these people! What I'm trying to say is that there are so many great experiences to be had in life, and some of them will float to you but many of them take reaching out. So how are you going to turn down the burning water? Are you going to add cold, or are you going to simply turn down the heat? Okay, this metaphor doesn't quite fit this situation but I thought of it yesterday and it has some meaning. I love you family!