The blessing of "new" family members

This weekend I had the privilege of meeting my grandma's cousin for the very first time. Now, when I found out that I'd be meeting her cousin, I thought of someone her age (80-ish), and I honestly wondered how much fun I'd have at that meeting. :) BUT, her cousin is about 25 years younger than her and more like the age of my dad. In fact, my dad and he used to hangout together.
My dad remembered the last time he saw Don being at his high school graduation open house. Life took them in completely opposite directions and granted them a reunion after 40 years. Kinda cool. Don and his wife, Rita, are recently retired and are spending a few weeks traveling around Minnesota visiting family and friends. They now live in Dolores, CO, and have been for quite a few years. They camped at my parents house over the weekend and we spend lots of time eating and sitting around the camp fire talking and hearing old stories.
What made some of the stories really interesting and special is that Rita is from Germany. She came to the US about 30 years ago with her first husband to start a German restaurant in Arizona. Three months after her first husband died of cancer (in 1999), Rita met Don and they moved in together after six days! Fate brought them to eachother, Rita says.

Rita's cookbook, "Taste of Old Germany"

To make a long story really short, Rita took over the German restaurant after her husband died and just last year published a book of recipes and short life stories. She happened to bring some of the books along and she gave me one before they left this morning- autographed and all. :) I'm completely honored to have been given this book. Rita is a pretty amazing woman-- down-to-earth, practical and oh-so-nice! And, Don is a pretty nice guy as well. A very good combination of Mike and my dad, actually. They all got along so well together and shared so many stories. I was sad to see them go this morning and even shed a little tear.
They're coming back next May and I'm already looking forward to seeing them again.