33 and a Third

Last week, I was pleasantly surprised to receive e-mail from ‘Nic Perrella’, telling me he’d visited my web site (this one!) and wondered if we were related. Nic is from Australia, and he told me the name of the town in Italy his parents were from. I suppose I was more than pleasantly surprised, I was ecstatic! I knew my father had cousins in Australia, and he didn’t even have to mention the town in Italy where they were from: I knew we were related. So I immediately called my father, and he gave me all the names of his cousins in Australia. Our fathers are cousins. His father’s brother and my father were born in the same year, and went to school together. I responded to Nic and he e-mail back immediately. It was later in the evening for me, and he was at work, early in the morning. We began a wonderful correspondence and the exchange of pictures began. His father has the characteristic wide jaw line of the Perrellas and they look like I should have known them all my life.

We’ve been swapping stories. It’s amazing how similar our parents are. Both our fathers love to fish, but sheesh, you can’t catch that size of fish anywhere near here! (He’s caught fish over 70 lbs!) And I got a kick out of the sausages his parents make: just like my parents. All of my e-mails to him have been long. I feel as though I have a life time to catch up on. I’ve been forwarding his e-mails to my brother, who became just as excited as I was. It renewed his interest in our family tree, and he added all the information Nic has supplied us about that branch of the family to his family tree tracking program.

I’ve often wondered if one day I might make a connection with someone. I e-mailed a Perrella in the US once, but never received a reply. I know I have 2nd cousins in Italy that use e-mail, and I’m sure there must be some in Brazil. Of course, I don’t think I could converse with those in Brazil!

I’ve been joking with Reid and my brother: let’s go to Australia. I have to admit it’s high on the list of places I’ve always wanted to visit. I’ve also always said that if I went to Australia, I might not want to come back. If you know me well, you know how much I hate the cold!