My Great Great Aunt just friended me on facebook. I’ve never met this woman, never heard of her, never knew she existed. She saw my picture on someone else’s friends list and asked who I was because I looked so much like my grandmother, her niece, Cleo.
I never met Cleo, who died when my mom younger than I am now. Mom never had many pictures — Cleo’s death left her an orphan, so I don’t really know what Cleo looked like other than she had red hair in a bob. Mom’s grandparents, who I only know as Pa and MeMa, died when I was young.
MeMa would be this woman’s sister. Pa died 3 days after I was born, having been asked to stay alive long enough for my mom to get in the car and drive her newborn the 8 hours to meet him. He met me and died the next day. MeMa I knew when I was very little, but I don’t have any memories of her. She was the only grandparent I ever had, and she was my great grandmother.
So today I was surprised to find out that, no, no grandparents, but yes, a great great aunt. And I was also surprised to find out I look like Cleo. I find it cool that I look so much like her that, though I was an apparent stranger, this 84 year old woman asked about me. And I find it cool because she’s like ancient history that I know nothing about yet am connected to.
Ashley's co-blogger is a third year student at Northwestern University who runs on coffee and snark. . At some point, she'd like to make people sit on couches and tell her about their feelings, but right now she writes in different places around the internet and makes silly faces when she doesn't know what to say. She's the president of her local Secular Student Alliance affiliate, and she is on the Secular Woman speakers bureau. Opinions do not necessarily reflect those of the Secular Student Alliance
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