Sigh

So, Gina and Gareth are now airborn for the UK.

Interestingly enough, though the Brit and I have been married for nine years now, this was the first I have ever spent any time with my brother and sister in law.  The first time we met, they had flown over here for our wedding.  They arrived an hour or so before the wedding, so there was little time to really get aquainted then and then after our beach wedding, there was a two hour reception before the Brit and I were off for our wedding night. 

The next time we saw Gina and Gareth was seven months later when we flew to the UK for their wedding and that week was a whirlwind.  Again, there were wedding plans which left little time for just getting to know one another.  The next time we flew over was a few years later and it was only for a long weekend, and we shared one meal with them.  So this visit was the first time we truly got to know each other.  What I discovered is that I genuinely love these people and adored spending time with them. 

Gina and I are scary alike.  We like the same things, have very similar senses of humor, dislike many of the same things and have the same fears (heights, spiders, etc).  We both love to shop and this was a wonderful thing for me as I rarely have anyone to shop with.  So we spent a lot of time conquering stores!

A few of my favorite moments:

Gina: What's YO mean?

Me: It's a state.

(she was asking me about the American abbreviation for Yarn over, but if you say "what does YO mean?" aloud...well, you can see the mix up.)

****
Gina:  I love this song!  I know all the words to this song!

The Brit:  That's good as you sure don't know the tune.

****

Gina: What state are we in?

Me: Pennsylvania

Gina:  Ohhh, where the vampires live!

Gareth:  That would be Translyvania.

Gina: Well, I knew it was a ' vania'.

*****

We had laughing fits in the car on the way to Canada over tomatoes and pringles.  She's the fastest knitter I know and will try anything once (she tried and loved Sushi).  She is the first Brit I have met to not detest peanut butter and she made a pumpkin pie from scratch while she was here.  Please note that she had never tried pumpkin pie before a store bought one their first week here and when I say "from scratch" I mean starting with the pumpkin.  She refused to believe that most people make "homemade" pie from a can. 

I not only got to know my sister in law, I made a new friend and I miss her already.