E-mail the Dead

She decided there was no reason not to keep writing her dead relatives just because they died. She began emailing them. Long detailed letters that told about her fears and dreams and memories and her beloved rescue dog, Elvis. Nothing bounced so she knew the letters were being received or at least that's what she told herself.

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Mother Night

My Aunt and Uncle changed their long eastern European name by giving it a haircut. Suddenly they were Swedish. Then they went to Sweden to see their "relatives." 

My sister did the same thing. She adopted the name of her mother's second husband and went to Italy to see her "relatives." Her actual biological relatives are of no interest to her. In fact she lived next door to a cousin and an aunt and never told them!

It's terrifying to invite close relatives to the gingerbread house. They might start gnawing at the walls.