The Vermont Contingent

Meet Gail and John.

Gail is a sister I met back in 1997 shortly after she turned 40.

I remember my mother coming over to my house and asking me back then, “Guess who has a daughter?” while laughing.

Phil, apparently.

Now whenever anyone asks how many sisters I have, I tell them I don’t know because I’ve lost count.

All the sisters. I think.

Gail and her husband Rocky have two daughters, Amber and Andrea. Andrea has moved into a new place of her own, and Amber (yes, we have two of them) is a soon-to-be mom. So Gail made a trip here to collect stuff from my distribution center for them and for herself.

She brought John along. John is…. Well, I’m not sure who John is. He is some sort of cousin to Gail, but I don’t believe he is related to Phil. (I suppose you never know.) This is what I learned about John: after taking a 4-year vacation to Brazil where he learned Portuguese and taught English, he is back in Vermont where he makes holistic teas for his great-grandmother using ingredients like pine needles. He seems like a very nice guy.

We had fun loading the truck.

In fact, we had so much fun, they made me set the timer on my camera and get in a picture with them.

I’m just glad I’m not in the car behind them on the trip back to Vermont.