Meet the van Golens

Today was the day I got to meet a whole part of my family that until about 5 years ago and the magic of the internet, we never knew even existed. My Dad's dad had 2 brothers, and until about the end of WWII, their families mingled. Around that time, my grandmother forbade any interaction with the rest of the family and they essentially faded from my Dad's memory. One of the sons of those brothers became interested in his family tree and found me, my brother and Dad in various internet searches, and although the spelling was a bit different, he thought the "Luke"and "John" he found might just be the cousins he remembered playing with as a boy. Close enough! Long story short, stories were exchanged and relationships built. Pieter is one of 8 children, and they are a close family. On recent trips to Holland by my parents and later my brothers, Pieter and his wife Anna organized a gathering of all their family so they could meet the other Vangolens. Today was my turn - I got to meet about 30 members of my family I never knew before. It was cool - awesome - great! They are a wonderful bunch of people. It is a very weird feeling to know all of the sudden that there are so many people out in the world that you share a history with. Weirder still - seeing resemblances in those people to the people in your family. One of Pieter and Anna's daughters, Maaicha (pronounced "Micah") has a 9-month old son that reminded me so much of my nephew Andrew when he was little. And a daughter of my Opa's other brother looked and acted so much like my oldest sister, Ellen, it was freaky.

And then we ate. Hours later - I am still miserably overstuffed because from the time Pieter picked us up at 10 AM until we were dropped off at 9 PM, our mouths never went empty for more than a few minutes. Or so it feels! My Dad finally had his haring (we were unsuccessful in finding an open shop in Amsterdam the other day) and Mom had her beloved advocaat - twice! And me - I had my first serving of vla. And my second. :-)

And now it's time for bed - we get to do the family thing again tomorrow, this time with 30 members from my mother's side of the family. And I KNOW there will be kroketten - I helped buy them the other day!



My Dad on the Waverbrug that he and his brother played on as children with Pieter and his brothers.



This little yellow sticker above the toilet paper in Pieter and Anna's bathroom gives instructions on what to do when you hear the flood alarms sound - similar to our instructions for lahars, earthquakes or tornadoes . I thought it was interesting, although I think they think I am a bit off for taking this picture!



Pieter and Anna's house. There is a little canal on the left side.



This would be said canal.



Maaicha and Joachum, who really does look like Andrew, although not so much in this photo. It was when he smiled.



Opa Pieter playing sjoelbak with his grandsons.



Florence, who is Ellen's doppelganger (standing).



Mom eating her advocaat. Lekker!



Everyone.



Coe, Anna, Hans and Maartin.



Pieter, a very sweet woman whose name is escaping me right now (Kees' wife), Kees and Dad dishing up.



Eating...



Pieter and Kees.



Boys will be boys...

And finally, a video of the group singing Lang Zal Ze Leven, the Dutch version of Happy Birthday, for Maaicha's birthday, which was today. Sorry about the shaky camera work - I was caught off-guard!