The Extended Family. Almost All of Us.

My family is the coolest family in the whole wide world. Seriously. Hands down. No doubt. We are so cool we even have a facebook group for the cousins (does that make us cool? Or does it make us dorks? Dunno.). But, see, with a heritage like we have, there’s really no way we can be anything but the coolest family in the whole world. My grandfather served as Pastor and Camp Director at Calvary Bible Church and Mountain View Bible Camp for 45 years. They raised all six of their children in the middle-of-nowhere southernVirginia and taught them (by example!) what it means to serve, love, care. The values they instilled so soundly into their children have been installed into their grandchildren. And we’re proud of that.

We’re proud to be related to such faithful servants. We’re proud to call Dugspur, Virginia our home-away-from-home. We’re proud to know that our parents are STILL best friends – even after 50-some-odd years of being flawed humans trying to interact with one another. We’re proud that we can all get together with (minimal) conflict. (Lets not talk about what happens when one of the little cousins – or the not so little ones – get tired and grumpy … :-P) And most of all, we’re proud to be Pinkertons.

A couple of us have been working on our “Reasons You Know You’re A Pinkerton” list…and, um, it makes me laugh. Because, truly, it all IS true. Fo’real. And for those who haven’t seen it yet, now you’ll get to laugh to. And for those who aren’t fortunate enough to be a part of the Pinkerton family, I’m so sorry for your loss. (But, btw, there are several very eligible female cousins who are now accepting applications for entrance to the family by marriage. So, hey, if you want to submit your application, you can email me your credentials and I will play matchmaker for you. (Don’t kill me, girls There’s a reason I’m posting this while in Uganda…I’m hoping you will forget about it by the time I get back! And by then, too, I’ll have a stellar candidate for you. Probably. Hopefully..)

– being behind schedule is normal to you.
– “late to bed, late to rise” is your motto and you scoff at the early bird and his proverbial worm.
– “over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go” is a completely literal experience.
– you’re not sure if you could name all your cousins in chronological order.
– November is a large birthday month for you.
– you know that planning a family reunion is like planning nuclear warfare.
– you know to settle in for the long haul when your Pinkerton parent gets on the phone with Mark.
– your family vacation involves playing connect the dots across the country with your relatives.
– “over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go” is a completely literal experience.
– you think its completely normal that all 10 aunts and uncles know a major family development before your parents get around to telling you.
– “over the river and through the woods to grandmothers house we go” is a completely literal experience.
– you think Rocky Knob is a nationally known vacation destination…but none of your friends have any idea what you’re talking about.