Yesterday was my 72nd birthday. I usually keep my birthdays very simple. Only a few friends near and far even know the date of my birthday. When I had suggested to my first cousin who lives here in Bellingham that we meet with a fifth cousin from our grandfather's mother's side, my first cousin suggested that we meet at Big Rock Garden Park on my birthday. Big Rock Garden is a short walk up the hill from where I live. I agreed to the plan. My first cousin and fifth cousin had not met before. I worked as a hospital medical transcriptionist with my fifth cousin for years, unaware that we were cousins until I saw her name on my list of DNA cousins on Ancestry.com. Our ancestors came from Nordfjord in Norway to the Midwest in the 1800s, one branch of the family settling in Western Minnesota and the other in Nebraska. My fifth cousin's ancestors went on from Nebraska to Washington State and became dairy farmers about 10 miles north of Bellingham. Although I was born in Northern California, I have lived in Bellingham since I was 24 years old. My first cousin was born in Minnesota and came to live in Bellingham in the early 1980s. My fifth cousin knows of another fifth cousin who was born locally. I hope to meet her, too.
After days of clouds and rain that included a wild roaring wind and rain storm, my birthday couldn't have had better weather, with sunshine, deep blue sky and beautiful big white clouds.
