A Cove Family Florida Reunion

Lake Panasoffkee, FL

Today, I didn’t drive anywhere. However, I was thrilled to have my Cove Cousin Ken and his girlfriend, Gerry, come visit me at my “house” in Lake Panasoffkee.

After not seeing each other for many years, this is the third time Ken and I have crossed paths or almost crossed paths in the past year. The first time this year was when I stopped in Winnipeg on the Canadian leg of my North American No Fixed Address tour and Ken and Gerry and I were joined by other cousins and my brother Rae, at The Forks in Winnipeg. Ken and Gerry and I sat at opposite ends of the table though, with some chatty people (no, not Maggie) in between so I didn’t really get a chance to catch up.

Then in September, Ken and Gerry were in Croatia in Dubrovnic independently touring at the same time as I was there on a tour with my friend Nanci. We tried to get together there, but our group unexpectedly decided to charter a boat for the day so we didn’t make it happen.

And today, Ken and Gerry came over from their winter place in Homossasa to see my “house” in Lake Panasoffkee and have a visit. It was great to catch up and for Ken and I to swap some stories of when we were kids. The cousins all spent a lot of time together when we were young, often at our home at 604 Strathcona Street in Winnipeg, and with several sisters and a brother in my Mom’s family that meant a lot of kids. Mom was the last of the Cove family to pass away when she did this past summer, so that generation are all gone. Even more reason why the rest of us have to keep the family threads stitched together.

But mostly what we talked about were our travels, where we have been, our process for planning and where to travel is still on our bucket list. That was the longest list of all! Ken and Gerry are as independent minded as I am (yes, you could describe it as stubborn as well perhaps), and like to plan and travel on their own itinerary as I do.

I didn’t tell Ken, but his resemblance to our grandmother Cove is uncanny, and it’s sure easy to see where the curly/wavy hair came from. I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, so much in fact that we’re going to do it all again tomorrow, only at their place in Homosassa tomorrow instead.