I guess Uncle Walt was right. It is a Small World after all. You see we have this neighbor Jeff, that we consider one of the best neighbors in the universe. He would literally do anything for you. He's snowblowed our driveway before we've gotten home from work, has started mowing our front lawn in the morning even if we're home but we just didn't quite get outside yet, taken ice down from our roof so the shingles didn't get ripped off, helped cut the trees down in our back yard, offered to give me an oil change...The list goes on and on, all without asking, just doing. I always say if I ever won the lottery, I'd have to win enough to afford a new house for me (us) and at least one next to it to put Jeff and his wife Kelly in. Anytime we have a barbecue or something at the house I always tell the husband to go invite Jeff because after all "he's family" or at least "like family" anyway. Well, one day back in January my cousin Eric, who let me try to figure this out right — is my second cousin, and I got talking about my family in Frankfort, NY, which is where he grew up. He offered to have us look at the pictures and home videos from all the old family reunions, which I thought would be kind of interesting. Then he mentioned something about my grandma's mother, to be politically correct my mother's mother's mother, and I brought up how I had only heard her referred to as "ma" when spoken about — that I never even knew her name. I just knew the last name — Edwards — but that was her married name. So Eric told me: It was Cora Inman. So I'm like Inman? I-n-m-a-n? He's like, "Yeah, why?" And I said that's something, our neighbor next door that we're really close to, his last name is Inman. So I said the next time I saw him I'd have to break his chops and call him "cousin." So seeing Jeff is a very busy man — he's a truck driver and works two truck driving jobs on top of being best neighbor in the universe — I saw him face-to-face for the first time on Sunday at a benefit that he and his wife organized for a neighbor who is suffering from cancer. Which totally accentuates best neighbor in the universe by the way. So when we saw him I go, "Hey Cuz!" And he's like Okay? I said see, I haven't even seen you to explain why I just called you that. So I told him my great grandmother's name, but he didn't recognize it. He mentioned that his grandfather's name was Chester Inman and his grandmother Ella Taylor. Then he said, "But I didn't have a lot of family from around here and we're probably not related because the ones I did have were up in Frankfort." My eyes lit up and I go Jeff, um, yeah, that's where my family is from too. And he's like REALLY? He said he remembered stories about his grandfather sliding down a hill to school. And I said, Yeah, Frankfort Hill otherwise known as "The Hill?" And he said, yes! Then he's like, "Yeah, but then the family supposedly moved to Jefferson Ave. in Utica." At this point I'm like Holy Sh--! I said Jeff, I remember my grandmother mentioning how her mother had moved from Frankfort to a house on Jefferson Ave. for some time. I didn't know when or how old she was. This was getting pretty creepy. So I text my cousin and tell him that the next door neighbor I was joking about being family could actually be one. Sorry Jeff, I wish you could've done better. Unfortunately you're stuck with me. I thought maybe Jeff's grandfather could've been my great-grandmother's brother. So it's later in the day and it becomes "Grandma Time," the time family members designate on a Sunday evening as being when we're suppose to visit grandma or at least talk to her on the phone if we can't make it over for some reason (and believe me even though she says she understands you can't make it every week, you'll get your balls broken if you don't call or don't have a really damn good excuse). So I go, "Grandma, I have a very deep question for you...Did your mom have a brother named Chester?" And she said, "Chester? No there was a Carl, we didn't have a Chester." So I'm like oh crap, all those peculiar similarities in our stories, but they didn't match up. Jeff's not family after all. So I mentioned how Jeff's grandparents were Chester and Ella (Taylor) Inman. So she's like you mean Chet? I'm like I don't know Jeff told me Chester. Grandma said, "Well there was Chet and Ella Inman" And I'm like YES that's who I wanted to know about! So I'm like well, were they cousins or something seeing they were also Inmans (my great-grandmother's maiden name)? And she said she didn't believe they were related, but the Inmans were their next door neighbors and lived in the house directly behind them. Being small town Hicksville Frankfort, there weren't too many houses that were close together. She said, "Oh, we went to school with all the Inman kids and your Aunt Annie (my grandma's older sister) was good friends with them. They used to get together and play cards. They were really nice people and they were always good neighbors." Well it kind of put a chill down my spine. Jeff wasn't family, but he turned out to be what could be my very good neighbor of a past and present life. It's funny how two completely different families who are neighbors in one generation in Frankfort and Utica, eventually meet up in Whitesboro three generations later. It is a small world after all. I still think it's a very cool story! So maybe there's a lesson here. Be careful what you say or who you talk smack about. For instance, I have a friend who used to always say that, we'll say "Fred" (to change names to protect the guilty) is so annoying. How can you stand talking to him? How do you know him anyway? And I'd be like, well.....well.....He's my cousin. And this particular person would be totally shit-faced. I used to enjoy laughing to myself at her awkwardness. Yet, she'd do this repeatedly until I guess it finally sunk in that he was family and it really wasn't nice to talk bad about my family member to my face and behind his back. So don't be hatin'. Don't talk smack about ANYONE. You never know, they could be that person's family, maybe even your own family, or perhaps even a neighbor from a former life.
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