Contacting Long Lost Relatives

Over the past several years I have both been contacted by, and have made contact with long lost relatives with varying degrees of success. My first contact with a relative came when I was contacted by a friend of my cousin who was managing her family tree. After many months of contact via email and Facebook, I asked if she was interested in meeting me in person while I was on vacation in London (she was, and still is, living in my family's ancestral town of Derby, UK). She and her son (my other cousin) agreed to meet me in London.

Both of us had the same concerns and, surprisingly enough, very similar answers to what we would do if we did not like each other. Luckily for us, we got along "like a house on fire". That was 3 years ago and next week I will be returning to the UK and meeting up with my "long lost relatives" for several fun filled days in London (we spent a few days together last year up in Derby).

Other attempts at contact have not been as fortunate. I have however, made contact with quite a few relatives via email and Facebook and our correspondence has been very pleasant. Other attempts at contact have been met with less than enthusiastic response, and some have been downright rude.

When it comes to family the old adage "you can pick your friends, you can pick your enemies, but you cannot pick your family" rings true...just remember that these "long lost" relatives, should they turn out to be nice, can be "picked" as friends and just as quickly you can choose to leave them "lost".