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We arrived back from the Nuwara Eliya region late in the evening. The remaining few days of our trip would be spent with family and friends.
My father's cousins invited us to their home, and my mother and I almost didn't go. There were a lot of things we wanted to do in the city, and only a very short window of time left on the trip. But at the last minute I realized how badly I wanted to go, be there with my dad and get to spend as much time with him and our family in Sri Lanka as I could.
I'm so glad I went.
We spent the afternoon with them visiting and looking at old pictures. Being there with him helped me actualize so many things he told me about his childhood in Sri Lanka that I never fully understood or appreciated as a child.
My father, his mother.
His cousins and my mother, getting fruit from the Rose Apple tree. Apparently they had a mango tree before as well - but had such a bad problem with monkeys that they had to cut it down.
My grandfather, who I think looks a bit like Bill Murray in this photo.
My little niece.
She led me around the house and garden telling me to take a picture of this and that, which she would then look at on the screen of my camera. :)
Cousins.
I asked my mom to hold up a picture of the rose apples. It wasn't until after I took the photo I noticed my little niece's hand at the bottom of the photo, reaching up to grab one.
They had a little crazy puppy, who was squirmy and bitey and adorable.
After lunch and before we left, they presented my father with a gift as a thank you. He wouldn't consider himself amazing person, but he is. The trip - not just the day trip to my cousins' house, but the trip as a whole - gave me a heightened sense of appreciation for my father and everything he's done for our family.