Weekend Update: Family History, Marriage, and Car Accidents

Friday night I began my mission to learn more about my family and our history. I visited my great uncles in San Jose and got about an hour to talk to each of them and record our conversation. Let me tell you, there is going to be some funny stuff on those tapes. The interview with my great uncle Herb included a brief mention of his first "tit grab." The interview of my great uncle Fred occurred over dinner at a Chinese restaurant and includes comments such as "pass the sesame chicken." Surprisingly, the only part the two disagreed about was which of our family members first came to the US from Russia/Poland. (We aren't exactly sure where the village was, considering the borders have changed a lot.) Herb says my great grandfather was the first to come to America. He was smuggled out because he was about to be arrested for his socialist activism. According to Fred, my great great grandfather came first and sent for his son. I'm sure my grandfather will agree with one of them, and then we will have a majority and declare that the truth. I wish that they knew more about my family's life in Russia, but apparently my great grandfather didn't talk about it much, which isn't surprising considering how much Jews were persecuted. Herb just said I should watch Fiddler on the Roof and I'll get a good idea. I think if I could meet anyone in the world, I would like to meet my great grandparents. They lived through such an amazing time period and suffered brutally from the depression. Still somehow they managed to get all three of their sons through college, thanks in part to a Navy program that paid their tuition during WWII. I'm excited about recording this oral history lesson, although I have no idea what I am going to do with all the info I am trying to gather.

On Saturday Benet, Caroline, and I attended Anthony and Katie's wedding. This wedding was a momentous occasion for me because Anthony is the first of my friends to get married. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and I thought Anthony was going to burst when he saw Katie walking down the aisle. I'm not the type of girl who gets sentimental over weddings but I must say seeing one of my friends in a wedding dress did make me want to be a bride. Although now I realize I really just want to be the center of attention and I don't need a wedding to do that. The reception was at the Hyatt in downtown San Jose and was...well, gorgeous. Great food, great dancing, and a great open bar. I was told the president of Stanford was there and I tried to meet his son, but I didn't get around to that. I've heard weddings are great places to meet guys, but I think the only guy I flirted with was the cameraman. (Like I said, open bar… and now I can get a discount on prints.) Overall, I had a blast and look forward to more of my friend's weddings.

On a more serious note… I have never been in a car accident, but today Benet and I came very close to a serious crash. It was a pretty typical situation, the cars in front of us (SUV’s, I might add) suddenly slammed on their breaks and we could not stop in time. We were probably about two feet away from the car in front of us going 50 mph when I yelled “Benet swerve” and she flew onto the shoulder. Luckily, there was a very wide shoulder and she was able to keep control of the car as we flew into the gravel. We probably sat their dumbstruck for a few minutes. I tried my best to affirm Benet and keep her from completely freaking out. After all, she had to pull it together and complete the drive home. I assured her that she did the right thing, which she did, and told not to think about what could have happened, because it didn’t happen and we were ok. The ride home was not easy though. Both of us were, for lack of a better term, pretty freaked out. When we got home we made dinner and drank beer to relax. We tried to focus on the Olympics instead of the recurring image in our minds. When Jen got home, we found out she had been in a car accident today as she was driving home from Santa Barbara. The car behind her wasn’t able to break in time either. She is okay, and I believe the car is too. I am still in shock when I think about this weekend. Yesterday, Caroline’s car broke down over Pacheco pass. Today, Jen got in a car accident and Benet and I nearly got in one. Every day that goes by I get more and more scared to drive. I just know too many people hurt and killed in car accidents. And I’m supposed to be worried about terrorism?