visiting with the relative

I saw my second cousin for the first time in years

     I don't remember how long it has been.  He has grown a lot, aged a little, and bares a strong resemblance to his dad.
     Jim lives in New York City.  He married about three years ago and we were invited.  But Jackie was not well that summer, so we did not go.  I still regret that we did not make the trip.  She actually got better about a week before the wedding, but we did not reserve a room or book tickets.  That would have been a great time to reconnect with family.
     but Jim is in town on business and we went to pick him up at his hotel to go for pizza.  We were within 5 miles of the hotel and we were 45 minutes early.  So explain how we ended up 15 minutes lat!
     The map we printed off the computer sucked, is one reason.  When the last line reads "Arrived at destination'" you sort of expect to be at your destination.  Nothing.  Nada.
      So we drove.  We were looking for the name of a road, when we should have been looking for the number.  Rowling Road is also 53.  The map had 53 as kind of a side note.  So when we drove through the construction at 53 because the street signs were down, we thought we were still looking for the road, not passing it.
      I am a guy.  I don't ask directions.  So 20 minutes later when I stopped at a Holiday Inn to ask for directions to another hotel, I figured they would be able to easily direct me.  Not so, bell hop breath.  The very nice woman behind the counter ran a diretions quest, but could not get it to print.  Enter woman number two, who got it to print and sent us on our merry way.......10 minutes later.
     We made it to Jim's hotel only 15 minutes late, which is pretty good considering the poor quality of the original directions.
     So Jim, Jackie, John, Emily and I talked, told stories, caught up on each other's lives, made fun of normal people and ate too much pizza.
     It was a great time.
     Jim heads back to the Big Apple sometime this week, but he will be back.  Hopefully we can meet up again and share some more good food and good company.
     But we will use better maps, or maybe even a GPS.