Welcome, Amelia

My name is Amelia Arden Magee. I was born precisely at 11:08 in the morning of June 4, 2011, not a minute too early, not a minute too late, determined to live up to the motto in life I thought up while in Mommy’s womb, which is and shall be: “All in Good Time!”

Here is a splendid family photo — couldn’t have been complete without me. Making a clock-wise circle from noon, my Daddy Michael, my Mommy Cathy, my sister Zoe — all admiring me (Amelia).

Right from the start the comforts of pillows and loving arms to hold me, here those of my Big Sister Zoe who, I think you’ll agree, has motherly talents and an angelic smile! I’m smiling too, but you just can’t see it.

My aunt Monique arrived in good time to keep us all company while I picked the right time to arrive, and I heard them all laughing and having a good time in the kitchen. It was such fun to listen to them, I snuggled in a little deeper and decided to see what might happen next before I arrived.

One thing they did was to show Aunt Monique all of the lovely sights of Wyoming, towering mountains and the rushing of bright sparkling water. I’m glad I picked such a scenic and wonderful place to make home!

Uncle John came too, by airplane, and spent his first evening trying to grasp the deeper meaning of pictures and words on paper, something he is always doing, and always with great success — because he knows how to pick experts to help his own understanding. Here Zoe is lending a hand in Uncle John’s unending education.

To rest up from study, Uncle John helped Daddy out in the yard. They called it “work,” whatever that is, but kept talking about fantasy baseball and fantasy football, whatever they are. I’ll have to ask Zoe to explain it to me. All in Good Time!

Finally, and in perfect time — and I timed it just right just for them — Grandma and Grandpa arrived in Wyoming to see me. And that is my story, the beginning of it. I cannot write yet, never mind the highest form of it, blogging, but I am gifted in the secret arts of telepathic communication (they say it fades as you grow) so I found a receptive member of the family to present all this to you in more or less suitable words.

Amelia Arden Magee

Magee Family Display

We are connected to the Magees through Monique. A grand family reunion last summer in August provides us with a way to introduce this extended family with a group shot, but, as sometimes happens, this photo by no means equals a census of Magees. Even our rather limited survey of people we know tells us that lots of individuals are missing. But the Magee branch of fictional Ghulf Genes will serve us to introuce other such arrays of humanity, the drops, you might say, of society. First we show the picture of those assembled. The people arranged themselves, fortunately for our purposes, in such a way that we are able to capture, in an enlarged rectangle, those best known to us of those who are here present. That picture follows, with commentaries on the names beneath.

John is the person whom, in this context, we would call our John. He is part of our innermost circle since his marriage to Monique, who is our flesh and blood. Dick Nason is John's stepfather and stands immediately behind John's mother, Sheila. To Dick's left and our right is Susan Riordan, John's sister. And last, his face partially obscured (like Dick's), is Jim Magee, father of Susan and John. Not shown is Michael, Susan's and John's brother--nor the three Nason children by Dick's previous marriage, Katrina and Eric ("the twins") and Bobby. As we noted, not everyone is present--or our aging eyes can't quite see them all in this large assembly.

I would here draw special attention to Susan. She is, you might say, The Mother of Blogs. Her initial ventures into blogging (Gettysburg Family, accessible from this site), inspired John's Patioboat and then, in sequence Ghulf Genes and others, not least Michelle's Pontoon Pirates, a blog that Monique started as a summer's lark and which has sprouted like the legendary beanstalk into the French sensation. As in all family matters, it's difficult to sort out the lineages, genetic or other. But Susan is easy to identify as the generatrix of our blogging.

The setting? The Adirondacks.