In a couple weeks, my cousin and her husband will be hosting an Open House to welcome a German family with whom my family has recently re-established relations! My cousin has already visited this family in Germany and now, they’re coming to her home. This is going to be fun!

It’s an unusual story and the two families might never have met except for my brother’s ability to speak German and his research in Germany. Here’s why. More than 175 years ago, my great-great-grandmother (Catherine Stricker, 1804-1878) married a man named Hermann Eppe (1804-1849). He took her name and four of their five sons adopted the Stricker name. Only the son who stayed in Germany kept the Eppe name. (Conjecture is that Catherine was the heir to Stricker property and her name took precedence.)

Apparently in the years just after the sons came to America, the families corresponded but over time lost contact. Understanding of the connection between Eppe and Stricker was lost as well. Now we have an opportunity to reconnect and perhaps clear up some of the mystery. That’s my hope anyway.

The light-verse poem below plays with the idea of reconnecting with one’s “long-lost” relatives, as it might happen to me were I to cross the oceans and visit places from which my forebears came. It’s silly and corny. I’m content to go with it.