My "new" cousin Evelyn

After my dad passed away in October, I began having my his mail forwarded to our house in California. I received a few Christmas cards from folks who hadn't gotten the news, so I wrote them back and thanked them for being a part of my dad's life.

One of the people I wrote to was my dad's cousin Evelyn, who as it turns out, lives less than 45 minutes away! We'd never met, but Brett and I went to meet her last week. We weren't sure what it would be like to meet her, but we ended up staying hours longer planned. She was fascinating.

As a 20-something in the 1940s, she left the Schenectedy, NY area to teach overseas. She lived in Japan (and visited Hiroshima after the bomb), Paris (before DeGaulle kicked NATO out of France), and Germany (during the rebuilding years). She even took a tour of Russia during communism.

She also had some stories about my great grandmother (who apparently wasn't a very nice lady), a family member who emigrated from Germany and lost a young child on the voyage, and favorite family recipes that we still make today. She was especially happy to learn that I had kept all of my grandmother's pans for making some of those special treats.

I learned that her birthday is June 22nd and the she hasn't had a Dobosch Torte in 60 years. Let's just say I have a new birthday written in my calendar, and my pans are ready :-)