Wedding Bells

No, not mine. The cousin got married today. I was arrowed to help out with his seating allocations for the day. And mind you, planning seating arrangements is not an easy feat I'd say. You have to take into consideration many things; things which... I'll rather not talk about here *grins* those of you wedded couples would probably know what I mean anyway.

The food was good and I had to keep a mental note not to stuff myself (because that's what usually happens at weddings. People just keep eating and talking and eating and talking and then at the end of the night, they realise they have to "suck it all in" so the bulge doesn't show through that tight-fitting cheongsam/dress/whatever).

I was seated amongst a group of cousins whom I've not much recollection of. You see, they live in Penang and I hardly ever visit. It was during this wedding lunch, that I realised I have been unknowingly promoted to being a grand-aunt. How interesting is that! My dad's sister's daughter and I are cousins. My cousin's daughter is my niece. My neice's son is my grand-nephew? Yeah, I think it was something along these lines. So yeah, the kiddo had to acknowledge me as "Ee Poh". Ha! That's some ranking for you!

And then amongst us, were these two other nice people, whom I asked how we were related. (I figured I'd better strike up some conversations since I was on my own at this table). And.... I found out that these two people were also my cousins of sorts! God! How many cousins can one have? Or is everyone a 'cousin' when you sorta lose track of the family hierarchy? *laughs*

OK, this aunty said she was my dad's cousin and they were pretty close when I was little... She said she used to visit us at our old place but I have no memories of such visits at all. And the other lady next to her, is her cousin and apparently she and I are from the same generation and that also makes us cousins. See, I'm actually losing track of who is who but I think it's kinda interesting to meet them after so many years and actually know that we all are related - somehow.

It's difficult to keep track of the family circle when it's a large family like ours. I don't even know how to address some of these elders to be honest. In the end, everyone's an "aunty" and "uncle". It's the only polite and generic form of address.

So yeah, it was like a little family gathering this afternoon. The next gathering will happen only when someone else in the family is getting married. When? Who? Where? No one knows.