I have what one might call a loosely knit family. I have one sibling and
three first cousins. We have contact a few times a year,maybe. And this is
mostly how it has been my entire adult life, and I'm approaching 60.

During one college summer break I took the mandatory backpack trip in Europe. I was vaguely aware that my recently married older brother was spending some time in Europe with his wife. One gray late afternoon I was meandering through the streets of London and found myself in Trafalgar Square.

Curious about the columnar statue in the middle, I approached the Lord Nelson monument. As one might guess, there stood my brother and his wife casually waving at me. Not so strange, we've all run into people we know in odd places. Their greeting, however, was a Rod Serling moment. They were ecstatic that I had gotten the message they left at Western Union that they would meet me at Trafalgar on that day at 5PM.

I'd never been to the Western Union office!