Siddalls Reunited

On my gap year, 21 years ago (!), I spent two months living in Los Angeles with my Dad's brother, Uncle David, Aunty Margaret and my slightly older cousins Marie-Claire and Matthew. I find it slightly incredible now that they put up with me for that long, but I had a wonderful time, and was looked after brilliantly; and today, Kevin, Jemima and I were going for lunch with them all, plus the new young cousins, at the house I'd stayed at all those years ago. It was very exciting.

We took an Uber, and as we drove I started to recognise things: the local area, Irvine; the communal pool; and then there was the house - all dimly remembered from long ago. And then long ago didn't matter - it was all about the present, and my family meeting my LA family, and us all meeting the new (to me) members: Marie-Claire's partner Leo, Matthew's wife Elizabeth, and their children Luke (8) and Ava (5). 

What a lovely day. Aunty Margaret laid on a fabulous lunch, plus some Cloudy Bay especially bought for me (from reading the blog account of our trip there); Matthew and Elizabeth had brought some wonderful red wine from near their house, and an adorable beach outfit for Jemima; and Marie-Claire had made a delicious dessert cake plus plied us with proper English tea - we were thoroughly spoiled. Jemima and Ava just played and played and played - upstairs in the kids' room; downstairs with the glitter paints (Kevin had the heebie-jeebies about the mess, but Aunty Margaret was very relaxed.) And the grown-ups ate, drank, and chatted. It was brilliant, and I loved the Siddall togetherness - with family so far away, it doesn't happen often.

Then, as ever, all good things must come to an end. We all said our goodbyes after a wonderful day - but only for tonight, because we had plans for fun tomorrow: oh yes, we were being taken to Disneyland. Bring. It. On.