Focus on Mexico Blog

I had a great surprise on the March 28th program. One of our participants, Owen Oliver, turns out to be my cousin. Owen is a dedicated student of Geneology and once we learned we were both from around Windsor, Nova Scotia, we started to compare notes with who we knew. It wasn't long before Owen suspected we were related.

During the program I searched and searched for the Redden book, which was compiled some years ago by a family member tracing our history. Finally, yesterday I found the book, scanned a number of pages and sent to Owen. He just got back to me with the following news:

• Marie,
     I am so grateful for the information you sent me. Your second great grandmother Jane King is my fourth great grandmother, so we are cousins.  I hope you're half as pleased as I am. Remember we were friends before we knew we were related. I still can't believe how small this world can be.  The information you send helped me make the conection.  Thank You, Thank You.
    Your sister-in-law, Mary Ann Fader Redden is also a cousin of mine through the Caldwells and of course David Young's sister is married to my cousin as well.  I think we are also related by marriage through the Brown family but haven't made the connection yet.

Indeed, it is a very small world!

I am tickled pink to find out Owen and I are related. I hit it off right away with Owen and his wife Jackie, well before we discovered our relationship. In fact the whole group of March 28th were exceptional, so much so that Karen made Certificates for them as they named their group 'Focus on Magic', and magical they were. We are looking forward to getting to know them all better as, one by one, they find themselves returning to Mexico to start their new lives; I have no doubts they'll all be here sooner than later. One of the great rewards of our job at Focus is the wonderful people we meet, many of whom become close friends.

What could be better?

During our last dinner with the Focus on Mexico group in October, Walt thought the dessert, Flan Cake, was so good, he had three of them, and, as you can, was proud of the accomplishment!!

posted by Focus_on_Mexico | 12:08 PM
1 Comments:

Anonymous Walt said...

    And I ate all three

The 'youngsters' Paul & Virginia quickly became a favorite of everybody. They seemed to enjoy everything they did...playing golf (Virginia was in the winning group!), shopping at the tianguis, listening to the mariachis and eating all the great food we had during the 7-day program. During our last dinner at La Bodega, Paul warmed our hearts when he said, "I read everything on the web site...every page, every word.

"I kept thinking it was all exaggeration...that it all sounded too good to be true. But, you know, since we've been here, I realize you didn't overstate anything...this really is too good AND it's true! We've had a great time!" Thank you, Paul & Virginia...we enjoyed you a whole lot too!

We had a great time dancing at La Bodega on Thanksgiving night. Ana learned the cha-cha from Steve; Karen got a great lesson in swing dancing from Rod; and the whole group got up and boogied to the song, Mambo #5, taught by Ray, Marie and our wonderful entertainer that night, Ricardo.

Even non-Focus participants decided to join the fun! That happens a lot when you have a group as congenial as the one that just left...everybody wants to have a part in the merriment! It really was a great group, and we know a lot of lasting friendships were made. Our final night was on the day of the American Thanksgiving, and the staff at La Bodega did us proud.

We had a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings, including stuffing and cranberry sauce. Great dancing, great conversation, traditional food and lively guests…some of whom still had the energy to go to the Plaza and watch the fireworks at the end of the daily fiesta. Our group was lucky enough to be here for the San Andres fiesta…the patron saint of Ajijic, whose party lasts for nine days!

A wonderful time was had by all.

Greg Ochs came out of the changing room with a pair of glasses, asking "who do these belong to?" Gary Matson had handed them to him, saying, "someone left these here."

Greg was convinced someone had accidentally picked up his glasses instead of theirs. I laughingly asked, "did you try them on just in case?" Greg said, "I don't remember my glasses looking like this." But he tried them on, and lo & behold, they were his!

We didn't let him forget it. Turns out Gary knew they were Greg's. He just needed a place to put his "unmentionables," and the glasses were in the way, so he decided to have a little fun with Greg. However, Gary did say he cleaned them first before giving them back! Wonder what he meant by that?

Our groups do have fun, and really form some fast friendships during their time in the Lake Chapala area.