Explore Your Roots

Here’s Ed and Phyllis, married 65 years and staying with us for a week – more of a treat for us than for them, I think. They had Joe Friday and me down for a glass of wine, and it was great to get to know this couple.

Ed’s father was born in Heart’s Content, so it has been on their bucket list come to Newfoundland to explore his heritage. We are going to introduce them to Clifford who knows a lot about the region- and, get this, they’re related! And they have an artist in their family the same age as Clifford. Coincidence? I think not!

Speaking of coincidences, they’re from Massachusetts (as is my daughter’s boyfriend of 11 years), and they live in Virginia, as does another daughter.

Anyway, they are incredibly sweet people who epitomize why I love Americans. We had a great chat about life in Virginia, where I lived for 8 years. I talked about the generosity of the Americans I met there, and they talked about the generosity of Gander and St. John’s during the 9/11 crises.  Truly a wonderful conversation to be had, and I hope they enjoy their time exploring their roots!