omg lol! wtf?

so, one of the many interesting things i learned about my new family last week, was this: my 14-year-old neice, nicole, who lives outside seattle (awesome), had TWELVE. THOUSAND. TEXT. MESSAGES. LAST. MONTH. fortunately for my brother, she has unlimited texts in her plan.

so, i've always known that my dad had three kids from his first marriage, but i only ever met my two brothers, jeff and robert, once, when i was in third grade. until this past february, i had never met my sister Christine. i grew up with my mom and my brother John, who is 7.5 years older than me (we have the same mom, different dads, but we are super close). well, i just spent a week in virginia beach with my extended family. here is how my it plays out now:
~my mom, Linda, lives outside Athens, GA.
~my brother John lives near Athens. his wife is Karen, and they have my niece, Lilly Grace, who is 5, and my nephew, Mitchell, who is 2.
~my brother Jeff lives in Puyallup, WA, outside seattle. his wife is Denise, and they have my nephew, Mitch, who is 16, and my niece, Nicole, who is 14.
~my brother Robert lives in Chicago. he has my nephew, Zachary, who is 7, my niece Margot, who is 5, and my niece Meredith, who is 2ish.
~my sister Chris lives in Forrest Grove, OR. her husband is Brian, and she has my niece, Jamie who is, i think, in her early 20's, my nephew, Nick, who is 21, and my nephew Anthony, who is 19. and JAMIE has amara, who is 2. that's right, i'm a great-uncle. i'm a gruncle.
~my aunt and uncle, donna and paul, live in virginia beach. donna is my dad's sister.
~tanna is their daughter, and she lives in va beach with her husband, matt, and they have taylor (girl) and derek.
~ryan is their son, and he lives in honolulu. his wife is kelly, and they have jordan (girl) and wyatt.

so there's my huge family. they are a mess. i love them.

Vacation-land

I am currently in Virginia Beach, VA, with my brothers and sister and cousins and aunt and uncle from my dad's side of the family. We are having what will end up being the first annual reunion of this family, and hopefully it will be in other locations in the coming years (oregon, idaho, chicago, and seattle are where all of these people live). Most people know that death brings about newness in a lot of ways, and in my case it has brought a whole new family. I'm still getting to know them, and I probably haven't let my guard down yet, but I'm getting there.

In the meantime, a handful of us are going to see The Dark Knight on IMAX tonight. This will be my third overall viewing and my second on IMAX, so I'm pretty excited. And if you are looking for some fun, check this out. It's dumb and hilarious, because people are stupid.

Later!