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13 people chatting it up...

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  Hey, that’s my tent!!!!!!!

  Anyway, cute pictures of Tristan. If it wouldn’t end up tainting his pretty little mind, I would say that you should get the boy into modeling.

  I think he’s gonna be the next Connor Oberst but more handsome.

  - Mollie | 05:10pm 19 Jun 07
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  Well, your sister’s tent to be more accurate. I should probably give that back but I do love it so…

  Speaking of Jill, I came across an interesting letter-of-ass-kicking that she’d written trying to historically preserve a high school in your area. It made me happy to see her battling it out for something, even if she is a racist with a 25-year grudge against desegregation.

  And I don’t know about Connor Oberst…whiny and (fake?) drunk? Not the life I’d necessarily like to see T evolve into.

  Oh and we watched that Puffy Chair movie, very good recommendation.

  - nathan | 10:50pm 19 Jun 07
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  Well, I can’t remember exactly, but I believe I purchased the matching tents for our islands of adventure tour. I’m glad to see it’s being used though for other rainy voyages.

  Speaking of kicking ass, Jill is pretty good at it. In fact, I believe she has a few trophies. I know what high school you’re talking about. We went to 9th grade there, but before the school districts were merged and the student body outgrew the school, it was a high school. I didn’t know she wrote a letter though. Are you sure it was her? OHHHHH, it wasn’t her. We have a cousin named Jill Henkel. Hahahahah! It had to have been her. I don’t think my sister feels that strongly about the high school. It is a cool building though. It was going to cost them the same amount of money to tear it down and build some out of place, building of modernity, as it would to renovate the old building, and that’s what they were going to do until the diehard racists stopped them. I don’t know Jill Henkel, the cousin, very well, and I’m not sure if she’s a racist, but she’s middle-aged, so it’s quite possible. My sister def. didn’t write it bc she would have told me about it. What were you doing, Googling her? That’s cute.

  Jill, my sister, is a crime-fighting hero though. She currently works with children who have emotional and developmental problems. So, everyday, she’s going into houses, battling Sponge Bob addictions and pulling children out of their television and video gaming shells and pushing them into life and communication with love and devotion. I do admire her so.

  I don’t want Tristan to become a depressive, alcoholic either. I don’t know if I’d call Bright Eyes whiny and fake though. Insightful maybe. A great lyricist. I just meant offbeat cute and hyper creative, except he’s not offbeat cute. He’s stunningly beautiful in that will be very handsome sort of way, but handsome is not a good adjective for a child, so I’ll say beautiful boy.

  If by puffy chair, you mean balance ball, I’m glad you liked it.

  - Mollie | 03:02am 27 Jun 07
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  hahahaha. Oh what great calamity. I guess I’ll have to believe you since the facts are on your side, but I think there should be a rule that cousins can’t have the same first name. It makes for a redundant and confusing family tree. Not to mention the pruning, watering, landscaping, etc. costs that go along with it.

  and another hahahahahah. “Google her.”

  Yes, I was.

  Oh and thanks for the tent, in that case. Assateague was a rockin’ time, eh? I’m always telling people how Jill and I set our tent up all secure and then we all partied in it, but you and Shawn were like “whatevs” and when we woke up in the morning the two of you were basically wearing your tent like a sleeping bag.

  Oh the times.

  - nathan | 12:57pm 27 Jun 07
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  I agree with the not giving family members the same name. I guess they assumed she wouldn’t be Jill Henkel forev, but as I explained in my e-mail, she only made a stint as Jill something else for a short time.

  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!! Holy shit, that made me laugh for a good five minutes. I tell the story in much the same way that you do, but until I read that, I never realized how funny it sounds. Assateague would have been a rockin’ time if Shawn and I weren’t in a love crisis. I guess all of the passive aggressive insults, minor outbursts, and awkward silences on our part did add to its rocknicity though. Overall, I’d have to say it was a rockin’ time nonetheless, even if we were totally unprepared to actually camp or brave the tidal storms. In fact, that probably made it even better. Didn’t we all buy matching sea shoes? Actually, I wanted to read the directions for setting up the tent, but someone who shall remain nameless (Shawn) was so intent on beating you guys in the tent race that there was no talking to him, and that, my friend, was why we were wearing our tent as a sleeping bag. I believe he said, You don’t need instructions to set up a tent or something to that effect and basically called me retarded. But I think we all saw who the retard was the morning after. HAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!! (Shawn, if you’re reading this, I’m joking about you being a retard and not laughing at you. Except I am but in an endearing retard sort of way.) I remember all through that first night, I was so scared that we were going to suffocate, and I didn’t sleep at all, partially because my blankets and pillow were soaking wet, and I tried to keep telling Shawn that we should go sleep in the car, but he didn’t care, and I was too afraid to go to the car alone because it was pitch black outside, and you two jerks had the solitary lantern we used to light our way. Then, what was even funnier, was that in the morning, as the tent blew all over and around him, Shawn kept sleeping in there for a good hour or two or three. Didn’t he even skip breakfast to keep sleeping in the tent bag? HAHHAAHAHAH! Ohhh, times indeed.

  - Mollie | 03:24pm 27 Jun 07
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  Oh, and I swear to this day that a horse was looking at us through the window of the tent in the middle of the night.

  - Mollie | 03:26pm 27 Jun 07
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  Man them’s was good times! I can see the two of you doing all of that. I don’t recall any problems, though, just lots of fun.

  But I guess I got the more amicable of the Henkel sisters. And she got the less tiffy of the Swartz/Snyder combo. j/k bff n@shit

  That wouldn’t surprise me, if a horse was looking through your tent window, though it would surprise the shit out of me if it were happening in real time, in the middle of the night, during a giant storm.

  Nice, horsey.

  - nathan | 03:36pm 27 Jun 07
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  Yeah, I can see us doing all of that too, but I only recall lots of fun too, which probably means I’m f****d in the head. Perhaps it’s bc of all of the times and places that have come and gone in between my memories and now ’cause I mostly remember shit like you jumping in piles of horse shit in your bare feet and me thinking to myself, he’s gonna get hookworm, or the campsite greeter ocean person on the bike with a basket and a shovel that warned us of the impending rains and told us to build in the lowlands, which you did, which is why you didn’t have to hang your blankets out to dry the next day, or Shawn buying that tiny, useless guitar that cost like $150.00.

  More amicable? I am EXTREMELY amicable, Nathaniel, and don’t you forget it. No, I think I’m just more confrontational than Jill, the reverse of which might mean that she’s more amicable. And I don’t know if Shawn is tiffy or just impulsive, more irrational, occasionally deranged, yet oddly, non-confrontational, which I guess basically means tiffy and lends itself to communication breakdowns and crossed wires n@shit. J/K BFF too but not but yes. Yeah, so what you said I guess.

  No, the horse was in my mind, but the mind, after all, is a terrible thing to waste. However, I did hear rustling, and as I lay there, contemplating my death by tent and waiting for the sun to break, I decided that a horse was outside, and I don’t have any experience with wild horses, but I imagine if a wild horse had been out there that it would have looked in the window, laughed at us for not reading the directions for our tent, noticed how precarious our position was and trampled the parts of the tent that were still standing with the hope of finding apples, or at least said hello or something. I mean, it would have been rude to not say hello, and I’d like to think that horses probably know that.

  Oh, yeah, and congrats on being the best of man. Wait, that’s going to inflate your head. I mean, congrats on being Shawn’s best man.

  - Mollie | 10:15pm 27 Jun 07
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  Hello there! I am *the cousin*. Does being 47 make me middle aged?
  Yes, I’m a great ass-kicker. Anything for a good cause!

  - Jill Henkel THE COUSIN | 12:06pm 10 Sep 07
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  Oh…and *not* a racist! :^)

  - Jill Henkel THE COUSIN | 12:08pm 10 Sep 07
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  Hmm, I suppose that depends on how long you plan on living. I’d say you’re pushing it, and maybe even over the hill, but only if you have good, common sense.

  If you feel like living to 110 or so, you’re still well under middle aged.

  Nice to hear from you – were you Googling yourself and came across this page?

  - nathan | 12:09pm 10 Sep 07
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  Only Googling myself to find a few articles to send to a friend that detail some of my ass-kicking. BTW, the Jill you know was named for me. Her mom liked the name. She’s Jill M., I’m Jill E.

  - Jill Henkel THE COUSIN | 12:43pm 10 Sep 07
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  Well, Jill E. the cousin, good to hear that you’re not a racist.

  I Google myself all the time. The way I found this article was by trying to spy on Jill M. via the Internet. Maybe that’s wrong, but sometimes curiosity is more important that good vs. evil.

  - nathan | 12:59pm 10 Sep 07