"This isn't about me being a Vampire or you being a human... This is about us"

For the past few days I've been interviewing relatives. Yesterday I interviewed my great aunt Viola (My grandfathers sister,). To put it plainly I was terrified of the interview. I hadn't spoken to Aunt Viola in years and my last encounter with her I think I was in a pissy mood (kind of shut off and distant). I thought that she'd see the interview as an inconvenience. Thankfully she didn't. When I went to her appartment she was very inviting and seemed happy to see me. It turns out that she favors my mother above all of my aunts, which makes me a shoe in for her affection. I met my three year old cousin Kemoni. She was shy at first (for about two minutes) and then she was all over me. She watches alot of children's television and has adopted the voice of Dora the Explorer. Everything she says is an explanation! and she randomly started talking about roller-skating and about how if you practice, practice, PRACTICE! you'll learn in no time!
The interview with my aunt went okay. I think if I would have known more about her before hand I would have had more questions. Nevertheless I learned alot. Apparently my great great grandmother Helen Brunstaff (my great aunts mother) was a terribly abusive mother. Many of my questions dealt with childhood memories and unfortunately it seems as though alot of her childhood memories are stained with the abuse of her mother. I knew her mother was a "loose cannon" but I hadn't imagined some of the stories that she told me. It's wrong that children have to struggle to be themselves because they have sucky parents. When we began to talk about my grandfather, aunt Viola became a bit agitated, she shifted her position and averted her eyes. My grandfather died on a shitty commercial airliner that aparently hadn't been serviced in years. They ran out of seats so they let him stay in the cock pit. The plane went down in the Caribbean and although they never found his body, the thought of how he died still leaves everyone a bit shaken. Aunt Viola closed the subject saying in a wavery voice, "He must have died a horrible death".
I feel as though most of my interviews are preliminary and not the stories that I set out for. The problem is that I don't know the family as well as I probably should so I don't know the subject specific questions that would probably trigger these stories. Maybe I'll come back over the summer and expand my interviews.
Today I interviewed my cousin Essie. I had never met her before and was again nervous about the interview. She was really nice and lyrical. Her accent wasn't as thick as Aunt Viola's so it was much easier to understand her. The interview was short, only about twenty minutes but through the interview I learned how her side of the family connected with mine.
I'm glad that I'm getting to know people and making connections with relatives. I finally feel as though I'm a good student/teen/person again.

Until next time...