Great Cousins

Friday night we spent the evening with Hank and Kristy Nelson, our great cousins. Hank is the son of Alice and Roy Nelson, Alice being my father's younger sister. We should have been born almost at the same time if only I hadn't been snatched via untimely C-section one month premature. I knew Hank as a cousin and remember being together on several occasions as little boys. One meeting involved a runaway ride in a red wagon. When his family came to visit us in L.A. in the 1950s I must have made an impression because, I mean, really, how many people have a cousin who can talk like a duck?

Hank and I became real friends when my family moved from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City as we were starting 7th grade. We attended Roosevelt Junior High together for one year before I enrolled at the brand new Clayton Junior High near our home in 8th grade. We reconnected in school as sophomores at East High School where we were good friends and shared a larger circle of friends.

Hank was friendly and outgoing and was a blessing to a less gregarious lad like I was. He literally saved my life socially. Hank was (is?) a night owl and I am an early-to-bed kind of guy. So I can't tell you how many times he has called me after 11:00 and I have taken his call in the arms of Morpheus. Consequently, I sometimes had to call him the next morning to verify the message/invitation, not wanting to miss some fun upcoming adventure. There were times in high school when I would receive a call near midnight with news that it had been snowing and the snow on Princeton Avenue in front of the Nelson house was perfect for sledding; so for fear of missing out (FOMO), I would dress and go sledding in the middle of the night. You see what a blessing he was?

We remained close even though I went to BYU and Hank stayed in SLC at the University of Utah. We left within a week of each other for our missions and spent our time at the Language Training Mission in Provo in regular contact. Hank was just over the border from me in Argentina, and I, as you likely know, was in Brazil. We kept in touch by letter and after our missions traveled through South America with Tony and Uncle Bud. We stayed close during college and I introduced Hank to Kristy Stewart (of the Stewart-Falls family). She was a Riviera-Apartments friend and I thought they might like each other. Turns out they did.

Father's family

My Taylor cousins

East High yearbook ad with Hank, Craig Cannon,
and pubescent version of me

Traveling in South America with Uncle Bud, Tony, and Hank:
Tiahuanaco in Bolivia

Hank sending me back to the gods at Machu Pichu

Hank leading "cousin" Jessica with Anna and Scott on board

Annie, Anna, Emily, and Becky

We got together with Hank and Kristy's young family intermittently as our families grew, but over the years contact has been less frequent. They left for El Salvador for three years while Hank served as mission president and we have only seen them a couple of times since then. So it was with great pleasure that we met for dinner at their house on Friday evening. They served us a delicious Salvadoran meal: pupusas are similar to corn tortillas, only thicker and stuffed with cheese, beans or meat; and curtido is a simple cabbage salad traditionally served with pupusas.

Hank and Kristy

Pupusas, curtido, and other good stuff

We have resolved to get together more frequently, which is super dooper, because we had a terrific time. We picked up right where we left off as you do with good friends.

That's all for now.

OXO

D.