It's not a family tree, it's a family bush

If you know me, you know that my family is... erm... complex. When asked the common icebreaker question, "Do you have any brothers and sisters?" I just shake my head and laugh. Kirsten likes to say that we don't have a family tree, we have a family bush. Really, even I get confused sometimes. It may require a map to understand, but they're all my family, and I love them. The problem is, we don't see each other nearly enough...

The last few days in Barcelona were sandwiched around a trip into the French Pyrenees for a family reunion (or as close as my family can get to that). As hard as it is to believe, France was actually the most convenient place to meet -- siblings came from Spain (me and Laura), Argentina (Diego) and California (Kirsten), and the parental generation (Laurence and Rosa) came from Canada.



It was the first time in 5 or 6 years that we had all been together, and we spent a few days enjoying good food, good wine and a whole lot of laughter. As much as I joke about my crazy, dispersed siblings, and as proud as I am that we all have such adventurous spirits, it's hard not to have a consolidated family unit that you see regularly. Despite logistical problems to get us all in the same place, we really do have a great time when we are together.

Granted, this is only one side of my family. With a little luck, we'll manage to coordinate the same thing on the other side of the family (that's you, mommas and Andres!) sometime in the summer or fall....



As an added bonus, I got to see my cousin Jay and and his wife Isabella, who happened to be in Barcelona the same days I was. And Diego and Laura and I had some quality BCN-drinkin' time. And to top it off, Laura and I spent my last night in the city at a Feist concert (an amazing show), where we even got to sing the Canadian national anthem at the top of our lungs -- oh the pride.

Pictures of Barcelona and France are here.

I arrived in Sweden yesterday, and am reconsidering some of my travel plans (Iceland may not be in the cards after all). Either way, it'll be an adventure....