Knowing that my aunts...
...and their kids are all reading this, I wonder how sedate I should be? I could watch my mouth...I tend to get a tad foul at times. But then if I did that, I wouldn't be me, so fuck it.
When I told my father that I had heard from another one of his sister's kids he said, "You hear more from my family than I do!" Well, if they're his family...and if he really IS my father...then they're MY family too. And I have been really, really pleased to hear from a couple of cousins whom I haven't seen since the 70's. Somehow they've turned from the little brats I remember itno full grown adults. Married ladies and attorneys. What do you know.
Well, my kids have done the same things since then and for the most part, I didn't even have any kids the last time I saw these folks. We really do go a long time in between family visits.
There are some people who anchor a family together. My grandmothers were those kind of people. So was my mother. They all anchored different parts of my family, but there were anchors. Now there don't seem to be any. My siblings and I have gone to the level of never being in the same state without a funeral. I guess when 6 adults all live in different states, life doesn't let you all get together very often. I know where they are and I could call them at any time, I could even visit them. But chances are really good that the next time that we will all be together will be my father's funeral. And, if I don't see all of his neices and nephews there, I may never see them again. Isn't that sort of sad?
Maybe one of us will get all organized and have one of those "The Descendants of Tom Joad" parties. That'd be cool. So...who's game for that? I would even be the one to do it. Yeah!
The more I think about it, the more I see that it IS my responsibility! I am obviously the OLD cousin, I'm certainly the "OLDEST sister" (as my bothers and sisters constantly introduce me, "Here's Margaret...she's the OLDEST."). One thing the anchors all had in common was that they were all old. So...being old myself, I guess I should act more like an anchor. So, hey...any cousins out there...would you like to come visit me to discuss having a huge Descendants of Lorraine Crombie parties...or we could even go so far as to have the Wilsons...but there's a slew of those and they just had a party last year. Grandma had 7 kids and my dad had 6. If I remember correctly, your mom had 5...as did the McFarland's...crap, that's 16 right there not counting spouses and children. I don't happen to have a spouse right now...but perhaps we could rectify that before then.
The way familes dissipate as they get further down the cousins line...it's a wonder more of us don't marry family. I wonder if we have been doing that at all? It would explain the nuts on Jerry Springer.
My grandfather used to take a Sunday drive after church and you would never know where he'd end up. I went with him one Sunday and he drove to a house out in the country. It was my eigth cousin. We figured that out when we were there. My great-great grandfather was a doctor out in the mountains and he had two sons. One of them was my great-grandfather. The other was the great-grandfather of the family who lived in the house then. It was really neat...they had the "parlor" set up like it was when the old man had the doctor's office in the front room of his home. I did one of my houses like that when I lived in an old, old house. I got the idea from them. I did it in antique office. It was pretty cool. Anyway, there's no way I would have known that I was related to these folks if I had met them anywhere else.
I'm glad that I've heard from my cousins. Long lost as they have been. I remember these little ones visiting us and I remember visiting them when their father was stationed at an army base. Other than that, I just know them from pictures sent at Christmas time. But we have a lot in common and I'm glad that I've heard from them. I hope that I get to see them soon. They were raised by the people who grew up with my father. There aren't that many of those. They have some stories to tell about my grandmother and so do I. There aren't any people on the world who know the same people that we do and that makes us special to each other. So, I really hope I get to see them sometime.
Well, the coffee just finished perking and I have a doctor's appointment later today so I need to go find out what time that thing is...I don't know if it's at 8 or at 3...I totally forgot. But I won't be gone for long.
See ya,
Meg
...and their kids are all reading this, I wonder how sedate I should be? I could watch my mouth...I tend to get a tad foul at times. But then if I did that, I wouldn't be me, so fuck it.
When I told my father that I had heard from another one of his sister's kids he said, "You hear more from my family than I do!" Well, if they're his family...and if he really IS my father...then they're MY family too. And I have been really, really pleased to hear from a couple of cousins whom I haven't seen since the 70's. Somehow they've turned from the little brats I remember itno full grown adults. Married ladies and attorneys. What do you know.
Well, my kids have done the same things since then and for the most part, I didn't even have any kids the last time I saw these folks. We really do go a long time in between family visits.
There are some people who anchor a family together. My grandmothers were those kind of people. So was my mother. They all anchored different parts of my family, but there were anchors. Now there don't seem to be any. My siblings and I have gone to the level of never being in the same state without a funeral. I guess when 6 adults all live in different states, life doesn't let you all get together very often. I know where they are and I could call them at any time, I could even visit them. But chances are really good that the next time that we will all be together will be my father's funeral. And, if I don't see all of his neices and nephews there, I may never see them again. Isn't that sort of sad?
Maybe one of us will get all organized and have one of those "The Descendants of Tom Joad" parties. That'd be cool. So...who's game for that? I would even be the one to do it. Yeah!
The more I think about it, the more I see that it IS my responsibility! I am obviously the OLD cousin, I'm certainly the "OLDEST sister" (as my bothers and sisters constantly introduce me, "Here's Margaret...she's the OLDEST."). One thing the anchors all had in common was that they were all old. So...being old myself, I guess I should act more like an anchor. So, hey...any cousins out there...would you like to come visit me to discuss having a huge Descendants of Lorraine Crombie parties...or we could even go so far as to have the Wilsons...but there's a slew of those and they just had a party last year. Grandma had 7 kids and my dad had 6. If I remember correctly, your mom had 5...as did the McFarland's...crap, that's 16 right there not counting spouses and children. I don't happen to have a spouse right now...but perhaps we could rectify that before then.
The way familes dissipate as they get further down the cousins line...it's a wonder more of us don't marry family. I wonder if we have been doing that at all? It would explain the nuts on Jerry Springer.
My grandfather used to take a Sunday drive after church and you would never know where he'd end up. I went with him one Sunday and he drove to a house out in the country. It was my eigth cousin. We figured that out when we were there. My great-great grandfather was a doctor out in the mountains and he had two sons. One of them was my great-grandfather. The other was the great-grandfather of the family who lived in the house then. It was really neat...they had the "parlor" set up like it was when the old man had the doctor's office in the front room of his home. I did one of my houses like that when I lived in an old, old house. I got the idea from them. I did it in antique office. It was pretty cool. Anyway, there's no way I would have known that I was related to these folks if I had met them anywhere else.
I'm glad that I've heard from my cousins. Long lost as they have been. I remember these little ones visiting us and I remember visiting them when their father was stationed at an army base. Other than that, I just know them from pictures sent at Christmas time. But we have a lot in common and I'm glad that I've heard from them. I hope that I get to see them soon. They were raised by the people who grew up with my father. There aren't that many of those. They have some stories to tell about my grandmother and so do I. There aren't any people on the world who know the same people that we do and that makes us special to each other. So, I really hope I get to see them sometime.
Well, the coffee just finished perking and I have a doctor's appointment later today so I need to go find out what time that thing is...I don't know if it's at 8 or at 3...I totally forgot. But I won't be gone for long.
See ya,
Meg
posted by Meg Kelso | 2:46 AM
1 Comments:
If Mom had 5, there's another brother/sister that we never met. There were 4 - youngest is on the bottom of the world, literally. Older brother just moved to Minnesota with his wife. Sister lives close to Mom in New Jersey. I live in Pa -- a decent lawyer, but divorced, too, with two great kids.
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