9.2.08 welcome

The genetecist drew up a family tree and we both stared calmly at the results - entire branches marked off with a hatch, meaning: dead.

If most of your blood kin are gone, it is very hard to establish the veracity of a DNA claim.

I grieve for them in the extravagant, quiet way they would appreciate, but no matter how much I care, they will never come back.

My uncle Rodger was a world-class wit and only about fifteen years older than me. To a large extent our childhoods overlapped, and he was certainly the most playful of his set of siblings. Every year at Christmas we wore matching Santa hats or engineer caps.

When I evolved into a teenager with broken down cars he was the one who always rescued me - and my friends - with grace and good humor.

He died too young, before his own son came of age.

This morning when I checked my email there was a message and a photograph from the states announcing the arrival of a new little cousin.

Welcome to the world, Neven Nyland. Your grandfather would be tremendously, lavishly proud, and the rest of us are all so pleased to meet you!

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